Billion Dollar Kill
by Amieryth
Summary: Lydia Carter, a former RAF pilot who is mourning at the sudden death of her parents, joins her Majesty's secret service , becomes the newest 006 and teams up with the famous 007 along the way. Her thirst for revenge over the man responsible is within he grasp, but what do you do when the very man you are set out to kill turns the tables, making him the hunter, and you the hunted..?


Disclaimer: I do not own James Bond as much as I wish I did.

WARNING: Rated M for violent scenes, language and sexual references/ content. Don't like, don't read, cant be any clearer than that..

"Judging by your age, I'm surprised you've even applied to work on the field. Or even MI6 in the first place. This is your last chance to back down and secure a long life you have ahead of you." The well-kept tall man dressed in a pale grey suit said with traces of concern layering the tone in his voice. In his entire experience of being head of MI6, never had he had to consider taking on a possible agent at a mere age of nineteen. Said person simply brushed her long bourbon hair off of her shoulder only to replace her hand back into her blazer pocket. "I am well aware of the risks this job carries, even so my decision remains the same, Sir." The young woman, not even out of her teens said flatly, her face unreadable, which scarily reminded the head of another one of his agents who had a habit of killing first, asking questions later. Hell this bloody organisation only needed one agent like that. The man sighed and looked back down at the paperwork that lay in front of him; her test scores were almost perfect, at an outstanding 97 marks. He couldn't exactly just turn her away, but he wasn't comfortable with taking on such a youthful agent. He looked directly into the future agent's eyes, searching for any signs of doubt or hesitation, only to come up empty. He sighed for a second time and stood up from behind his desk. "As you wish, I assume you had thoroughly read through the expectations and regulations of MI6 in your previous meeting?" He paused placing his hand on the edge of his desk waiting for an answer. He easily towered over the teen as if to test her confidence, which did not falter despite his attempt. "Yes Sir, twice." Is all she said before blinking for the first time since she had arrived in his office.

"Very well then, you are here by now officially appointed to her Majesty's Secret Service and are fit for duty. You will be known as agent 006, Miss Carter." The head said with pride whilst holding his arm out for her to shake in agreement, which she took without hesitation. "Yes Sir." She half nodded before stepping aside to let the head walk past her towards the door, once opened he turned to face her again, "You may go to the interrogation room, to discuss your future and to create your profile for this organisation, after that you may go back to your home and wait for further instructions." He said; authority clearly evident in his voice. "Very well Sir." She nodded again and walked out of his office towards the interrogation room. Once she had left he walked back over to his desk and dialled the main reception. "Inform Q that we have a new agent 006 that I have just introduced to the field and is need of, 'gadgets' as he would put it. Also, her physical and psychological examination has yet to take place, so as soon as she arrives let her into the interrogation room, understood?" "Right away Sir." Is all the man on the other end of the line said before cutting off. The head of MI6, Mallory, or known as 'M' slumped into the back of his large chair picking up the profile of the agent that just left his office, "Lydia Carter… you're just like your parents used to be…"

As Carter descended the staircase, her confidence only grew, she knew what she had to do, and now that she was officially an agent of her Majesty's Secret Service, she could finally accomplish her wish, revenge. As soon as she reached the bottom two body guards were already waiting for her on either side of the double doors she had entered through earlier. On her way here she had noticed many other corridors that branched off from the main, which made her wonder how big this underground building actually was. As she stepped down from the stairs, one of the guards moved forwards, almost preventing her from taking another step just from his sheer size. "006, you are to come with us for interrogation, this way please." Carter said nothing as she was escorted through the maze of corridors, and had lost count of how many lefts and rights they had taken. Her feet had started to ache from the walking, "To hell with these heels…" she thought to herself and seriously considered removing them there and then, but refrained as that would tarnish her reputation before she even managed to gain one. Soon enough though they finally stopped outside of a door which was heavy with security. The guard that had been walking in front of them the whole time leaned forward towards the door and had his fingerprints and eyes scanned. As soon as this was completed the door buzzed and opened slowly, revealing the extraordinarily large room that awaited them on the other side. "This way 006." The guard that was behind her grumbled in a low voice that contradicted his rather small frame. She merely nodded again; she had done this a lot today, not seeing the need to speak. She almost flinched as she felt the guard place his hand loosely over her right shoulder as he literally steered her inside, this time through irritation she did speak, "I am fully capable of walking on my own thank you." She half snapped. The guard just looked at her through a bored expression, obviously wanting to be elsewhere and dropped his hand back to his handgun which was strapped to his upper right thigh.

As soon as they were halfway in the room, the guards retreated back out of the door and were replaced by both men and women in white lab coats. Carter would have been lying to herself if she didn't find that a little nerve racking, but quickly pushed that out of her mind as she found her blazer jacket starting to be removed. By instinct her hands flew up to the lapels at the front of her blazer and began to pull them together only to let go as she realised there was a woman standing off to the right of her with what seemed like gym clothes and trainers. "Please come this way Miss Carter, you need to change into more appropriate clothing for this examination." One of the examiners said as politely as possible. "Yes, of course." Carter agreed more than willingly. She felt alienated when dressed so formally in a light grey pencil skirt and matching blazer, not to mention the killer heels she was dying to take off. She was escorted yet again to what seemed like a typical changing room, but this was MI6, and nothing was typical here. For all carter knew, just getting changed could be a test. So as soon as she was inside and had locked the door behind her she checked for bugs and hidden cameras, thankfully coming up empty after searching the room top to bottom. Once she was satisfied she undressed and redressed into the clothes the examiners had given her outside of the changing room. Feeling miles more comfortable now that her feet were flat on the ground, and that she wasn't being suffocated by the most tight waist skirt she had ever come across in her life, a small smile crept across her face as she noted their use of Adidas sportswear. Just before leaving she tied her long brown hair back into a high pony tail and placed her overly formal clothing into one of the many lockers. As she held the cold metal door handle she paused and took in a deep breath to chase away any nerves that might have crept over her.

As she left she was greeted by yet another band of examiners, one of which held what seemed to be a blindfold. Carter's expression turned serious as her brows furrowed with slight confusion. "I'm sorry Miss Carter, but I'm afraid even 00 agents aren't permitted to see the route to the interrogation room. For security purposes you must be blindfolded and handcuffed till inside." Carter just let herself be turned around and have her sight and freedom removed from her. She had not seen the handcuffs till she felt them clasped rather tightly around her wrists behind her back. She then felt two sets of hands on either of her arms as if she was some sort of S class criminal being taken to prison. They walked in silence, only the sound of their footsteps filled the seemingly abandoned corridor as they approached the interrogation room. Then they stopped and carter knew they had arrived, she heard the sounds of a code being punched into a keypad and another buzzing of a door slowly opening. She was then walked forward again, only to hear the door shut and lock behind her. Once inside the blindfold that blocked her vision was suddenly removed, revealing streams of bright light that glowed white from the strip lights above. Carter's eyes squinted as the sudden change from pitch black to bright white overwhelmed her sight for only a few seconds. Once they adjusted again, it became clear she was not the only person in there. Almost in the middle of the room near the back stood a young man that looked near enough the same age as her. He wore a simple plain white shirt with a black tie, accompanied with a casual tan cardigan and plain black straight legged black trousers and shoes. His dark brown wavy hair was halfway between short and mid length and he wore smart retro black framed glasses that seemed to suit him down to the T.

"It's a pleasure to be acquainted with you, 006. I am your Quartermaster who will supply you with technology that will assist you on your assignments in the future. But as I personally find being called Quartermaster all the time a bit of a mouthful, you may simply address me as Q. I will also be the proctor for your physical examination today. Everything crystal clear so far?" Q asked as he raised his hand to push his glasses further up the bridge of his narrow nose. Carter relaxed her posture as soon as she felt she could trust the person who stood before her. Q walked forward to shake her hand, unlocking the cuffs in the process making her wrist click. "I assume that agents get called by their names they are given around here, but in any case my name is Carter, Lydia Carter. Or am I not permitted to tell you that information?" she said matching Q's casualness in her voice. A crooked smile planted itself on Q's lips as he leaned forward slightly as if to get out of someone's earshot, "You sound like an agent I know, but let's just keep it as Carter, or 006 depending on the situation." Carter just shrugged and put her hand back in her pocket as soon as Q released it from his strong grip. "Right then, first I need to run a basic physical test on you, this is just to analyse the state your muscles are in and whether your blood pressure is too high or too low, to prevent any injuries that will affect your health and the test results. Understand?" Carter simply nodded as she let Q extend her arms outwards. "Now all you need to do is tense your arm muscles as much as you possibly can, without injuring yourself of course and hold them like that for thirty seconds." "Alright, if you say so." Carter mused and did as Q instructed her. As she bent her arms and tensed, Q watched at the fabric of her t-shirt sleeves strain considerably as her muscles expanded. He reached out to feel the toughness only to hesitate just before as he noted the sudden change in 006's expression. "If I may?" He asked politely, gesturing towards her upper left arm. She simply half nodded and let him continue. As he barely managed to fit his hand around her arm Q's eyes widened a fraction in surprise of how, tough Carter's muscles actually were. Obviously well-developed overtime. "Carter, may I ask you a personal question? If you don't mind that is?" He asked as he let go of Carter's arm. "Depends, is it part of the examination or just out of pure curiosity?"

Q considered this question for a moment, this Lydia Carter was definitely quick to analyse a situation indeed. "Hmm, let's say a bit of both, but mostly out of curiosity to be honest. How many times a week do you visit the gym or exercise in general?" Carter smiled at how simple and basic the question actually was; she had honestly been expecting to be asked about her childhood or something. "Every day, for three hours. Why?" She asked whilst un-tensing her arms after keeping them like that for well over a minute. "No real reason really, just because your muscles are well developed compared to any other teenage girl your age, and it is compulsory that we know you stay fit and healthy to stay fit for active duty, nothing more." "I suppose that makes sense. Well now you know, every day for three hours. Sound good enough for your regulations?" Carter asked almost sarcastically. "More than enough actually, just don't ware yourself out in the process. But if what you say is true, which no doubt is, you'll have no trouble with the physical tests. But before we do that I need to record your blood tests, you're not squeamish about needles are you?" Q asked her jokingly, as she wouldn't be here if she was. "Not in the slightest, Q." She pulled a genuine smile, temporarily showing her perfect white teeth before they hid away again behind her full pale lips again. The first real smile of the day. It didn't take long for Carter's blood tests to be taken, just a pin prick in her upper left arm. "006, I need you to run as fast as you can for as long as you can on this treadmill whilst wearing an oxygen mask please, this will test your endurance and adrenalin levels." Q stepped aside revealing a high-tech futuristically modified version of an everyday treadmill, hooked up to many different monitors that Q could work from. Carter didn't even hesitate, this day was already starting to drag, and on top of that she was already doing a physical exam on an empty stomach.

Carter stepped onto the treadmill which for some reason didn't have any arm supports, just a monitor coming from the ceiling to display the results. She braced her legs into a running position and nodded once towards Q who was already behind the wall of computers. "Are you ready Carter? It will start off slow and every ten seconds it will automatically pick up speed, understand?" "Yeah I got it, I'm ready." Q was right, it started off so slow Carter was literally just walking, then she felt it step up a gear causing her to break into a medium jog then into a light run, Carter knew something wasn't quite right. "Q… are you sure… it's every ten seconds? It seems faster… than that." Q just smiled at her. "You think so? Well judging by how you are still capable of speaking in fluent sentences without losing your breath or concentration, I think you can handle it being a little more frequent than every ten seconds, don't you agree?" Carter's eyes just narrowed slightly, it was an exam inside of an exam, probably to test her ability to adjust to change quickly. One thing was for certain, Lydia Carter was VERY good at adjusting to change, almost too good. She turned her head forward away from Q's evaluating eyes and just nodded. "Fine, it doesn't bother me, go faster if you want." She saw Q's smile grow wider from the corner of her eye and shook her head slightly. "As you wish 006, gradually going up to top speed as we speak." Q wasn't joking; soon enough Carter was running flat out, the sounds of her feet pounding into the conveyer belt like a fast paced drum, constantly keeping the same rhythm. "Carter, you are now running at top speed of fifteen miles an hour, can you still hear me?" Carter didn't respond, no more like she couldn't. Her pounding heartbeat in her ears and the constant drumming in her feet was deafening out the sound of the radio ear-bud in her ear.

"Evidently not…" Q said to himself. Then his attention was drawn back to the many screens with a warning alarm blurting in his face. "WARNING. SUBJECTS HEARTRATE 110 BEATS PER MINUTE."… "WARNING. SUBJECTS HEARTRATE 160 BEATS PER MINUTE." Q's eyes widened in horror, if Carter carried on, she'd go into cardiac arrest… Carter's breath had gotten heavy and more frequent, but she didn't show any signs of faltering or slowing down, just keeping the same pace constantly. "Carter if this is getting too much for you, we can stop. You've been running flat out for over five minutes now, at this rate you'll-" "No! I'm fine, just a little out of breath that's all Q, I can still carry on!" Carter literally shouted over the roar of the treadmill whilst looking directly at Q who had his hand hovered over the emergency stop button. Then he raised his hand again away from it, "Alright then Carter, if you can carry on then we will." Carter just quickly jerked her head in agreement and to Q's astonishment picked up the pace. Q sat back in his chair simply baffled; any normal person would have collapsed from exhaustion by now. He leaned over his desk and buzzed for the main reception. "Is 007 currently in the building?" "Yes Sir, right now he is in the target room and has been for roughly over an hour, Sir." "I see, well send him over here to the interrogation room ASAP please." "Right away Sir." Minutes later 007 arrived in the same manner as 006 did, handcuffed and blindfolded. "Q is this even necessary, I've been here countless times…" 007 had somehow already managed to get his wrists in front of him whilst pushing the blindfold over his head revealing his surroundings.

Q was sitting at his desk paying more attention towards the girl who was running flat out on a treadmill. "Bond, come look at this here. This is the new 006 agent Lydia Carter; I assume you haven't read her profile yet?" "No I haven't; the new 006 you say? So does that mean I'm in charge of her?" "Unfortunately for her, yes you are. But that isn't why I called you down here. Look at her results for all of her exams she has done so far. Hell at this rate she's going to smash through your personal best on the physical exam, 006 has been running like this for over ten minutes now without any sign of slowing dow-" "WARNING. SUBJECTS HEARTRATE DROPPING, 100 BEATS PER MINUTE, 87 BEATS PER MINUTE, 73 BEATS PER MINUTE, 48 BEATS PER MINUTE." As if to contradict what Q was about to say, Carter's body did start to slow down, her pace became sluggish and occasionally she stumbled over her own feet. Q shot up from his chair "This examination is over-" "Wait Q! That's not necessary. I'll handle this, un-cuff me." "O-okay…" Q watched as 007 took things into his own hands yet again. Bond walked over to Carter who hadn't even noticed him arrive in the first place and placed his hand on her bobbing shoulder. By now Carter was well aware that someone other than Q was in the room. She turned her head quickly out of shock to find a man standing to the side of her making her break her concentration long enough for her to stop running, causing her to trip and fly backwards off of the treadmill, sending her crashing into an empty desk which got completely crushed. Silence fell over the room apart from the low buzzing of the computers, the treadmill slowing down and a broken chair falling apart. Both Q's and Bond's eyes had widened in alarm. "That wasn't meant to happen." Bond said rather bluntly whilst walking over to Carter who was thankfully now attempting to untangle herself from under the debris.

Bond held out his hand to help her up, which she surprisingly ignored. "I can get up by my bloody self, thank you." She got up and walked past Bond not even making eye contact and made her way over to Q "I suppose that's my personal best, Q. I could have gone on for longer but this will have to do for now." She took the oxygen mask off and slammed it into Q's desk. "What do I have to do now?" "U-uh, five hundred pull ups and sit ups, one after the other…" Q stammered whilst watching her walk over to the pull up bar. "So five hundred of these, right?" Carter confirmed, Q just nodded quickly. "Whenever you're ready 006. We will start the second phase of the exam. Bond, give this to Carter for me and instruct her to strap it between the elbow join of her strongest arm." Q gave Bond a very familiar little devise which clocked up the number of pull ups a person did every time pressure was put onto it. Bond simply took it without a word and walked over to Carter once again. "Which is your strongest arm, Carter? Left of right?" He lightly touched both of her arms as he asked her the question, making her tense up. "My right arm, Sir." "I'm not 'Sir'. My name is Bond. But formalities can wait till later, right now you need to pass these exams with flying colours so that you definitely secure your place as the new 006. Strap this at your elbow join and begin." Bond handed her the devise which she strapped on her arm as instructed. "Right, whenever you're ready 006." Q said while nodding and starting up equipment that would no doubt log Carter's results. "Bond, come over here you're a distraction to any woman you come into contact with." Both Bond and Carter made a face at that statement which Q decided to ignore. Bond did however back away and made his way back over to Q's desk. "Are you ready Carter?" Q asked again politely. Carter simply nodded as she walked over to the bar and dusted her hands before stretching her arms, barely managing to reach the bar above her. She then made a small jump and secured her hands firmly on either sides of the bar, occasionally shifting her fingers till she was comfortable. By now her feet were no longer touching the floor which for her was a little embarrassing. "Uh Q, isn't this bar a little too high? I can't touch the floor anymore…" To her dismay both Q and Bond let out a quiet chuckle. "No 006, it is supposed to be that height, to prevent the subject from attempting to use the floor to assist them. Standard procedure, the same was done for Bond; he couldn't touch the floor either, so I don't know why he's laughing." Q got a playful slap to the back of the head in reply to that remark. "Right, well in any case may I start now?" "Go for it, do your best." Bond replied before Q got a chance to speak. Carter just gave him a 'Your-getting-on-my-nerves-already' look before lifting her body weight up till her shoulders were above the bar. As soon as her upper arm came into contact with the devise it clicked, making the meter on the screen go up by one. "One down, four hundred and ninety nine more to go." Bond said sarcastically whilst leaning back in his chair. Carter stopped midway of her second pull up and looked at Bond through piercing narrow eyes. "Sorry to bore you, I'll speed up a notch if it pleases you, Mister Bond." Carter returned her attention back to the task at hand and kept her word, by speeding up almost twice as fast. Bond sat forward in his chair resting his elbows on his knee; just watching at the meter on the screen jump up a figure before he even had chance to register it in his mind.

He leaned over to Q and whispered in his ear "I like this agent; she's not like a lost sheep around us. And her attitude amuses me." Q just turned from the screen in front of him and looked at Bond in agreement. "Well since we have a little time on our hands I'll walk you through her profile. I haven't read it myself yet either but by judging on what M has said she has a very interesting background. Curious?" Bond smiled a sly smile and chuckled. "You've certainly piqued my interest I'll give you that. Okay, surprise me." Q just sighed and opened up Carter's profile on a separate screen revealing a vast amount of detail in comparison to the sparse information she volunteered herself. "Her basic information states that she's nineteen, twenty in three months' time, her height is 5"11, she's right handed. Natural hair colour light brown with dark blue/grey eyes. But this is where it gets interesting; turns out she's not your average laid back teenager you find around London. She's a former RAF pilot and was in the force from an early age of sixteen, but left straight after her parents' death, which according to my resources was, last month… Oh bloody hell I knew I'd heard her last name from somewhere…" "Wait her last name is Carter, she isn't who I think she is, is she?" Bond asked whilst leaning forward on his chair even further till he was literally perched on the edge. "Unfortunately, yes she is Bond. She's Mark and Hannah Carter's daughter, the two agents who fell during an assignment just last month. Bond this is serious…" Silence fell between them again as what they had just discovered settled in. The only sounds in the room were the light huffs of Carter's steady light breathing and the increasingly fast clicks from the devise strapped to her arm. "398… 399… 400… 401… 402… 403… 404… 405…" "Bond, I think I can safely say she's had just a rough a past as you've had my friend." Pretending he hadn't heard the last part of the sentence Bond changed the subject. "No wonder she's flying through these tests like a walk in the park, she's done all of this before. Possibly even more intense." Q didn't miss the fact that Bond had purposely changed the subject. After all, even for him, any mention about his past was still a delicate subject to talk about, and was no doubt going to be the same for Carter.

Both Q and Bond were in such a daze they hadn't noticed that Carter had finished and was now standing right behind them. "You could have just asked you know…" Carter said, not attempting in the slightest to hide the frustration behind her words. Only Q jumped at her sudden presence, which was expected as Bond was by now well used to having people sneak up behind him. "I've done five hundred like you asked; may I have a glass of water please?" "Y-yeah sure, here you are." She placed her towel on the back of an empty chair as Q handed her a tall glass of spring water that he had prepared before-hand, which she quickly consumed. "How do you do it?" After much silence, Bond finally spoke again; any emotion that would have been in his words hidden well. Carter paused drinking and hesitated before placing the empty glass back down on the desk. She knew what he meant, it was obvious. "How do I do what exactly?" She asked staring at the back of his well- toned frame. "Everything. After everything that has happened to you in your life, you still go on acting as if it was all just a dream. How do you do it?" He turned in his seat till he was looking directly into her eyes, reading her expression like a book. Even though she knew exactly what he was talking about, it still took her off guard. The way he worded it, it was full of so many emotions, yet absolutely none at the same time. She hesitated again, she forced back any tears but her lip still quivered slightly. She turned away from his gaze, knowing too well that she couldn't hold up the mask for very long. "That's hardly any of your concern, Bond." She turned fully and picked up her towel again and made her way over to the other side of the room. She sat on the edge of the bench and strapped her feet to the floor. "Q I'm ready for the next test whenever you are." Carter said flatly, pushing any emotions that tried to invade her voice back down into oblivion. Now lying flat against the bench she simply stared up into the plain white ceiling, just waiting for all of these exams to be over. Carter wasn't one to lose her cool quickly, but right now she had a goal in mind, and the faster that goal was completed, the quicker her mind would be at peace. "Yes, you may begin Carter. This time I will have to log your results manually, to get accurate readings." "Whatever, I don't really care how you do it Q." And with that, she began the exam, not holding back, wanting to finish this as quickly as possible, but to her highest potential. As soon as she was done, which took no time at all she excused herself to freshen up and get changed again. Leaving Q and Bond behind, she was handcuffed and blindfolded for a second time till she got to the changing rooms.

"Do you think she's fit for being on the field, Bond?" Q asked as he sent off all of Carter's rather impressive test results. "You said so yourself, and it was written in black and white. She's a former RAF pilot with more than enough experience in combat and dealing with the enemy. So yes Q, she's perfect for the field right down to the T." he stood up and paused for a while, just staring at the door Carter had been escorted out of before turning back to Q again. "Call for some guards to come, I would like to leave now." Q just sighed but did as he was asked; even he was starting to find the whole being escorted-while-bound-and-blindfolded thing quite bothersome. "Leaving so soon bond? You only just got here-" Q was cut off by the sound of an explosion, soon followed by rounds of gunfire somewhere not far away. Bond and Q quickly exchanged slightly more than alarmed glances before bond sprinted towards the door. "Rules and regulations are going to have to wait Q!" And with that he was out the door sprinting like the athlete he was headlong down the many unfamiliar corridors. The rounds of gunfire hadn't stopped meaning the guards of MI6 were successfully holding back the unknown enemy. This also helped Bond pinpoint the exact location of the sudden chaos. Soon enough though he did reach the source of the invasion and it was one bloody hell of a mess. Bodies of both sides littered the floor along with rubble and other debris. But even with all this displayed in front of him as well as the very few guards who were skilled enough to still hold their ground firing desperately, Bond was looking for a particular 006 agent who should have been escorted by these guards only moments ago. His well-trained eyes feverishly scanned the warzone till they fell onto what they were searching for. Carter Lay face down into the marble floor, unarmed and still bound and blindfolded, hardly moving at all.

Carter was on the other side of the wide corridor to where Bond had taken refuge behind a partially destroyed pillar. It was obvious that she had been caught in the blast of the explosion, barely escaping with her life as her head was bleeding far too much to be classed as a minor injury, no doubt split open. Her hair literally swam in the pool of blood that had quickly appeared there. Bond had to get her out of there fast, before things got any worse. Just as Bond was about to make a run for it over to Carter's side, after few attempts to roll herself over she finally managed to slump herself onto her side bringing her cuffed wrists in front of her which she took no time at all to snap in two. With her hands now free she began to push the rather large clumps of pillar and wall off of her body which had buried her during the explosion. But just as she managed to sit up a second bomb exploded directly behind her, throwing her across the hallway. Bond leapt out from behind the pillar and caught Carter in his arms, but the speed that she collided into him sent them tumbling backwards till Bond's head smacked harshly against the marble wall, leaving him in a dazed heap along with Carter moving in what seemed like slow motion. Both their ears were ringing and bleeding, and as the smoke and dust began to settle, a figure appeared before them, standing casually on top of the new entrance they had made. "Lydia Carter, my you have grown into such a fine young woman!" The figure exclaimed with too much enthusiasm to fit the situation. Carter's heart froze her eyes widened. She recognised that voice immediately, the way I crept across the room and latched into her ears, unable to deafen it out even with burst eardrums.

The figure dropped down from the wall and started to walk towards them, slipping and sliding through the labyrinth of bodies and rubble till he stood just a few feet away from them. Carter didn't look up to see his face, no more like she couldn't. She just stared at his tan leather brogues, frozen in a heap next to Bond who was now unconscious. "I see you have joined MI6 and teamed up with the famous Mr Bond. I am impressed Lydia, very impressed!" The man took another step forward and lifted Carter's chin up with the toe of his shoe till she was looking directly up at him. "You used to have your mothers eyes, bright and full of mystery. But now they are cold, icy and harsh. Makes you all the more interesting my sweet pea." He lifted his shoe even further, forcing Carter to her knees. She was on the borderline between barely clinging to consciousness and blacking out from the loss of blood. The figure removed his toe from underneath her chin which dropped slightly at the sudden loss of the headrest, causing more blood from her head to splatter on the undamaged tiles that the bombs hadn't managed to reach. "W-why are you here, after all this time, why don't you just give up…?" Carter asked the figure through short bursts of breath as he knelt down to her level and cupped her face with his hands, making her look directly into his leaf green eyes. "Give up, on such a large fortune? Not likely sweet pea; and you have proven to be quite hard to find, but your moves are predictable, all I had to do was wait." He watched as Carter's face screwed up into a cutting scowl, making her eyes even colder. "You're just going to die trying, you're not getting anything out of me." Carter spat, only making him chuckle darkly. "My you are very stubborn, even after I've killed your family off, one by one till there's only you left, you still haven't cracked?"

Carter spat blood in his face in reply to that question, and his anger flared up like a rash in mere seconds. Before she could fully understand what was happening he viciously grabbed her by the throat, lifting her completely off of the floor. "You may be stubborn now, but I WILL make you crack, pull a few strings here and there and you will be literally dancing in my hands like a good little puppet." And to prove that he wasn't joking around he smashed the back of her head onto the floor whilst pulling out a handgun and firing it three times into her shin, earning a piercing scream to erupt from her blood stained lips. But even then he wasn't finished. He quietly leant over her, lifting the top half of her limp body by the front of her shirt before just letting her drop rather heavily again as he listened in pure bliss to the sound of her head cracking against the floor. After this, she didn't move again, her eyes glazed over into an icy grey nothingness. As silence fell over the room once more he let out a disturbing laugh, proving his insanity even more. He was soon flanked by three of his hired guards, readily awaiting their next orders. "Hm, we're leaving, bring these two along with us, I'm nowhere near finished…" The guards all briefly shared disturbed glances between then, unnoticed by their boss, for even though they were hired assassins, this was a little too gruesome for them to take lightly. All the same, they complied anyway. Two breaking off to carry Bond away whereas the third simply scooped carter up with ease and slung her over his shoulder as if she were a mere sack of potatoes. Everything from there went by like a blur.

Carter woke again from what seemed like hours later to the taste of iron and a few other unknown revolting substances in her mouth. It took her some time to realise she was face down on a dirt floor, surrounded by her own blood, from what she could tell. She groaned as the dull pain at the back of her head rudely made itself known whilst attempting to sit up, only to fail miserably. "You're finally awake, thank god for that." A familiar voice sounded not far from behind her. Now knowing how weak she actually was right now, she didn't even make an attempt to try and face him. "B-Bond, how I am glad to hear your voice… Where are we…?" Carter asked him through a rough cracked voice, and he could tell just by looking at her that whoever was behind all of this had already put her through hell. "I haven't got a bloody clue. When I came to I found myself where we are currently being held now, that's about as much as I know." He sighed and leant his back against the cool concrete wall for support, still eying the back of Carter's slumped body. After much silence he was about to question if she was still conscious when she spoke up again, "When you woke up, how long after do you think I was out?" she mumbled, barely audible. "I'd say around three hours. I would have come over to you to check if you were still breathing etc, but I'm currently chained to this wall, sorry." Carter's eyes opened wide to his last comment, his voice was full of sympathy and concern. She had made up her mind, even with these sudden turn of events, her goal was still the same, and was even easier to accomplish now that she was at the heart of the problem. She forced her hands that were currently trapped underneath her own body and pushed herself off of the ground, letting sand and dirt fall from her face. Once she was finally sat somewhat upright she turned her head slowly towards Bond, keeping in mind that her head was indeed cracked open and any sudden jolts could cause the wound to start bleeding again. She met Bond's gaze through half lidded eyes to find he was in fact chained to the wall behind him.

She painfully twisted her body around to face him before slowly fidgeting onto her hands and knees only to yelp out as a spike of pain shot up her left leg causing her to crumple to the floor again. Her gaze shot to the source of the pain only to reveal three gunshot wounds in a vertical line down her shin, the lowest just missing her ankle. "Shit…" she cursed quietly as she managed to push herself up into a sitting position whilst getting a better view of the damage. She was now sitting a few feet in front of Bond who watched as she ripped a piece of her shit and put it in her mouth, not even hesitating when she began to pull out the bullets with her bare hands. She groaned in agony into the fabric as crimson liquid spilled over her fingers and leg, dripping like water into the dirt, staining it red. "That's one way of getting them out I guess…" Bond mumbled more to himself than to Carter, who still heard regardless. "My leg… will get infected… I f I – Arghh! –D-don't take them out now… It can't be helped." Once all three bullets were out Carter ripped even more of her shirt to use as a makeshift bandage, revealing her mid-drift that was surprisingly littered with scars that were caused from gunshot to knife wounds. Despite this, Bond didn't bring it up, instead he watched as she quickly wrapped the cloth around her battered leg. It was obvious that she had done this sort of thing before, both to herself, and no doubt other people too. When she finished she rested back on her hands for a while, panting ever so slightly. "Are you alright, Carter?" Bond asked as she hadn't moved for some time now. "Y-yeah, I just need to rest a moment. I'm fine, there is no need for your concern." She looked at Bond through one open eye, who just remained silent. Even though he was in much better condition that Carter, he was still exhausted, his arms burned from being held up by chains and to top it all off he had a pounding headache.

Bond hadn't even noticed that he had closed his eyes till he felt someone lean slightly against his right arm when his eyes shot open again to find that Carter had made her way over to him to free him from his shackles. "Carter, you don't have to push yourse-" "Shut up. I said I was fine, besides you're not much use bound to a wall now are you?" Bond remained silent, he knew she was right but even for her, her words stung a little, not that he'd ever admit that though. Carter took his silence as an answer and focused back onto the task at hand, it was going to be a lot harder that she first thought now that she had got a chance to look at how Bond was bound to the wall. She sighed as there was only one option, and it was going to be painful no matter who you were. "Bear with me, Bond. This is going to hurt, but try to relax your wrists as much as you can…" "Why what are you- Arghh!" Bond almost screamed as carter twisted his wrist around along with the shackle in order to screw it out of the wall. "Hang on, just a little further…" as she twisted a little more, earning another low growl of pain from Bond, Carter felt it become loose and began to pull against it. Soon enough after using what little strength she had, Carter finally pulled it out of the wall, almost hearing Bond sigh with relief from the pain. Bond literally slumped into Carter as his arm dropped to the floor, exhaustion finally taking him over as he had been trying to stay awake in case Carter woke up. And now that she was awake and fairly ok, and that he was partly free, his consciousness began to give him the slip.

"Hey, Bond?" Carter called as she lightly shook his shoulder, only causing him to slump into her further, by this time she realised he was out like a light. She sighed and looked at his other wrist that was still chained; by the way he was slumping into her it was bound to be putting a lot of strain on his arm. Once again she sighed and managed to sling his free arm around her shoulders for some support while she attempted to free him completely. A few hard tugs later and a couple of low groans due to her severely injured leg here and there the second shackle broke out of the wall, taking Carter by surprise as she was now supporting Bonds entire weight, not that he was really heavy of course. She pulled him away from the wall across the floor till she felt her back press against the far side of the room, where she lay there with Bond resting against her lap. They were both utterly and completely beat, both physically and mentally, and Carter could only imagine in her darkest nightmares what was in store for them in the next few hours. Despite this, Carter couldn't keep her eyes open any longer, she just didn't have any energy left.

BACK AT MI6 HEADQUATERS:

"Q, have you got any of the footage from the cameras in this corridor?!" M practically boomed in the teens face as he briefly scanned the bombsite left behind from earlier that day. It had been nearly six hours since 006 and 007 went missing and it was pretty safe to say that they were with whoever had caused this chaos. Q sighed, never in his wildest dreams did he think that a 00 agent as fresh and new as Lydia Carter, with so much potential, could be swept away within the blink of an eye, but Bond too?! "Yes sir, it is not very clear as most of the footage was mainly just dust and debris flying in front of the lens, but towards the end it did manage to capture the footage of 007 being knocked unconscious, 006 being shot and then both of them being dragged away by our unknown enemy, sir. That's all I could decipher from it." "Right, well at least we know where they have gone, roughly. Has the blood found at the scene being analysed yet?" Q's face dropped at this question, yes he had analysed the blood right away and what he found was not what he wanted to know. "Yes sir, I have. Pretty much all the blood found spilled over the tiles, apart from a smear from where Bond hit his head, it is all 006's sir. And I may be no doctor, but I'd be very surprised if she survived the night with the amount of blood she has lost… I'm sorry sir…" "Shit…" M cursed. "She hadn't even had her first assignment and THIS happens?! This isn't a coincidence, someone has obviously being after her and now they pounced at the opportunity where she was most vulnerable… and now we have no idea where they are…" Q purposely coughed to snatch back M's attention. "Fortunately that is not the case. You see when I was the proctor for Miss Carter's exams I obviously had to take her blood tests, while doing this I also inserted a tracking chip into her left arm, she didn't even notice. So if that chip stays in her arm, which I have no doubt that it won't, we can track her whereabouts."

BACK TO BOND & CARTER: 

Bond woke to find that he was no longer chained to the wall, but was now in fact lying down with his head against something soft and warm. Then he looked up to be greeted by Carter's sleeping face and quickly realised that he was resting against her lap. He tried to move but soon discovered he still didn't have the energy to do so. He sighed and looked back up to Carter, her head was slightly drooped over from falling asleep sitting up. For once she looked at peace except for the occasional drip of blood that fell from her mouth indicating that she was far from at peace. Bond was about to reach up and gently shake her awake when the cell door suddenly swung open, revealing two large men dressed head to toe in black, their faces also covered except for their eyes. As the door swung open it slammed against the wall causing Carter's eyes to snap open from the shock of suddenly being woken up.

"Our boss wants to see you now, get up." Said the guard that stood closest to them, pointing his rather large gun towards them, gesturing for them to stand and follow. Bond looked up to carter again who was still glaring at the two men who stood before them. Her eyes were framed with dark purple circles and blood had begun to trickle down her face again which dripped onto Bond's shirt. When they didn't move, the guard who had spoken made his impatience known and fired his gun once at the floor, making Carter flinch slightly as the sound bounced off of the walls of the cell. "Don't make me tell you again…" he hissed and took a step closer to the two agents. Despite this warning Bond still didn't move, no more like he just couldn't, and Carter could obviously tell as she picked up his arm and put it behind her neck to support him. Then to his surprise and horror she began to stand, whilst literally carrying his weight as well as her own. Once both of them were somewhat stood upright Bond could both feel and see Carter's injured leg shaking violently and threatening to buckle in on itself. Bond opened his mouth to say something but soon went quiet again as she began to move them forward only to stop again. Carter leaned over, already panting and out of breath. But then her back snapped bolt upright as she felt a gun being shoved between her shoulder blades. The guard suddenly came right up to her and whispered darkly into her ear making her freeze, "move."

She began to move again, somehow managing to carry both hers and Bond's weight, but not without immense struggling to stay upright. "Bond… Lean away from me slightly, or I'll fall over." Carter tiredly deadpanned, not liking how harsh her words sounded, but was by far way too exhausted to care. "Right, sorry…" Is all Bond said before doing as he was instructed, resulting in Carter now being able to somewhat walk upright rather than slouched to her side taking on all of his weight. They were now halfway down the dark and narrow corridor that lead to wherever the hell they were going, and wherever that place was, they both knew for sure that it wasn't going to be pleasant. And they couldn't have been more right. As they came to the end of the corridor, a large and very battered metal door stood in front of them, which then slowly opened to reveal a room in a very similar condition as to what the cell they were locked up in looked like, a dirt floor with rough concrete block walls. They were soon pushed in through the door but stopped in their tracks as soon as they were just inside the room, immediately noticing the very man responsible for their capture standing in the middle of the room, his hands casually in his pockets with his head slightly cocked to the side, as if analysing the two agents that stood uncomfortably in front of him. "Ah Lydia, I see you have dealt with the small leg issues you were having. Spending over three years in the RAF really toughened you up didn't it? Well that's self-explanatory considering that you are still able to stand let alone move my dear." The man pulled a sickly sweet smile at her, causing her to visibly cringe in on herself, but immediately steeled herself again as she noticed him chuckle darkly. "The RAF can do wonders if you are devoted enough, a simple flesh wound like this is nothing, I can still operate fine even with three bullet holes in my leg, no thanks to you of course." Carter half spat at him, making no attempt to hide her disgust and rage that she had for the man. This was the most she had said to him in over five years, but her seemingly confident words would turn out to be her downfall as she suddenly felt the floor beneath her collapse, literally like a trap door, only managing to grab a glimpse of Bond's more than shocked face before she plunged into a large and very deep tank of freezing water.

"Now Mr Bond, I think there is something you should know about out lovely little Lydia here, and that is that she is terrified of deep water, thanks to yours truly." He said with another dark chuckle as he watched Bond's face screw up with rage. "I just thought you might like to see what my handiwork has done to "change" our dear Lydia's over confident perspective of life. Come, you can watch it all from down here." He stepped aside and revealed a stairway that lead underground, where a viewing screen of the tank could be found. Not having much of a choice in the matter as he felt a gun suddenly being pressed against his lower back, promising him a world of pain and becoming permanently crippled from the waist down if he didn't comply. So he followed the man down the stairs, already regretting what he was about to witness. Oh sometimes he wished he could be so wrong, as when they finally reached the bottom, they came to a small room with a viewing window, revealing a huge tank of water that was undoubtedly freezing as the glass was already covered in a thin layer of frost. He could see Carter in there, thrashing frantically with both her legs, causing the water around her to turn red from the blood. He could only watch as she desperately thumped against the very trap door that had dumper her in there in the first place, fighting against the bitterly cold temperatures with little to no oxygen at all except for the small amount she had just seconds before she fell in. He watched as her already futile attempts to force the door open got weaker and weaker, to the point where her hand simply glided over the surface. She then noticed bond standing on the other side of the thick pane of glass she had noticed no long after she had fell in, both his hands pressed against the glass with such a helpless expression on his face. And then, like every other human being under water, the little air that she still had left in her lungs finally ran out. Bond could now see the pained look on her face as plain as day as a series of large bubbles escaped from her mouth, telling him that her time had ran out like a fresh slap to the face.

Bond helplessly watched Carter slowly sink to the bottom of the tank, creating a low thud as her body hit the bottom, lifeless. "Get her out of there, right now." Bond hissed through his teeth at the man who had been commenting throughout the whole tormenting ordeal as if it were some kind of sport. This was by far the worst way he had seen a fellow 00 agent fall. "Fine with me. But you can go and get her yourself, as you are her partner. But don't worry, she'll no doubt be still alive if you hurry, as the water she fell in is sea water, considerably harder to drown in might I add. So chop, chop!" is all he said whilst clapping his hands together, giving Bond all the encouragement he needed before dashing three steps at a time back up the steps, now discovering that the whole floor of the room was an entrance to the freezing pool below. Without hesitation he took off his blazer and shirt, threw them to the side before diving in to save a certain 006 agent. As soon as his bare skin made contact with the freezing liquid, Bond felt like he'd been hit in the stomach with a sledge hammer, instantly going into shock due to the drastic change in temperatures. Despite him body screaming at him to get out of there he dived deeper till he reached Carter's hopefully unconscious body before wrapping his arms around her waist and pushing off the floor with all the strength he could muster, his legs ploughing through the water as if her were merely running flat out on hard ground. As soon as both their heads breached the surface of the water, Bond gasped for the air his lungs desperately needed before pulling both of them out and onto the side where he collapsed to his knees, coughing and spluttering up water as if the world depended on it.

But he soon cut off the coughing when he noticed that Carter still wasn't moving. He rushed to her side and desperately tried to get her to open her eyes by lighting tapping her cheek to try and get some kind of reaction, an attempt that was so far very unsuccessful. The suddenly the "floor" of the room began to cover over the tank of water again, till there was no way you could tell that there was even a tank there in the first place, it looked like an ordinary holding cell again. "I'll leave you to it then. I'm sure bringing someone back from deaths doorstep was covered in your training, I can't have her dying just yet, Mr Bond." The man's more than amused voice echoed around the room but could not be traced a he let out one last dark chuckle before leaving the two agents alone in the ill lit damp holding cell. Bond growled and wanted to mentally hit himself as he realised how very slim the chance was that Carter would pull through. He began to pump his palms into her chest whilst feverishly sieving through his mind trying to remember the procedure to go through if one of his fellow agents were succumbed to near death by drowning. Then it finally hit him like a tonne of bricks, the only procedure that had 95% chance of it actually working finally sprung to his mind and he acted within a blink of an eye. Without hesitation he gently pushed her head to the side and lifted both of her legs into the air till she was at an angle of roughly 45 degrees, allowing any water that would have penetrated her lungs to flow out again. And flow it did like a leaking tap as the salty water trickled from between her now pale blue lips, creating a small puddle right by where her mouth was. The second part of the supposed life-saving procedure was to punch the person once firmly in the stomach to encourage the pulse rate to increase again. Personally Bond wasn't keen at all with the idea of hitting a woman, but if it saved her life then so be it. Bond gave Carter's stomach one firm punch causing her entire body to jolt. But instead of a much needed gasp of air, only more water poured out and at a faster rate.

"Shit!" Bond cursed before placing her back on the floor and pumping her chest again in attempt to jumpstart her heart, which he hadn't noticed until now was hardly beating at all. "Come on Carter you're stronger than this! Don't give up on me now!" He almost shouted but not gaining any kind of response. "Oh bloody hell!" he cursed again before taking in a deep breath and leaning down and giving her mouth to mouth CPR. He repeated this at least four of five times, each time forcing excessive amounts of air into her lungs. But then halfway through giving her sixth dose of air her body jolted again, shortly followed by a long and deep gasp of air, causing her to arch her back off of the floor as she coughed up more water before rolling over onto her side, all the while violently shivering. "Welcome back to the land of the living." Bond said whilst pulling a small half smile as he sat next to her. What he didn't bargain for however was for her to suddenly sit up and push herself against his side, clinging to his water soaked arm whilst resting her forehead on his shoulder, her facial expression not visible to his eyes. "You're… so warm…" Carter half croaked as she snuggled closer to him in attempt to warm up faster, that water was freezing after all. "I wish I could say the same about you too." Bond chuckled lightly before wrapping his muscly arms loosely around her shoulders, gently rocking her slightly from side to side to comfort her, as she had remained silent from that point on.

He was about to ask if she was alright but stopped as soon as he felt her steady light breathing against his skin indicating that she was in fact out like a light. He sighed before placing her flat on the floor again and walking over to where his dry shirt and blazer lay in a pile near the staircase that lead down to the viewing screen. Just as he walked back over to Carter and put his blazer on her before redressing his top half the door swung open again, revealing the two guards from before standing in the doorway. "Get up; our boss wants you to follow us to another location. Don't make me repeat myself this time." The guard said calmly but with a harsh tone in his voice, showing how much he really didn't care. Bond didn't need to be told twice to stand up, scooping Carter's sleeping form up into his arms before following the two men out of the room and down a different corridor. After about twenty minutes of walking through the never ending labyrinth of winding corridors Carter finally stirred awake again, almost falling out of Bond's arms as they both didn't expect the sudden movement. "B-Bond…? Where are we…?" she let her voice die down as she noticed that there were two other people present with them. "I haven't the slightest of clue, but wherever it is it's quite far away, we've been walking like this for over twenty minutes now. As this new information sunk into Carter's mind she tried to wriggle out of the firm hold that Bond had on her. "I wouldn't do that if I were you, one you almost drowned and two your leg is a lot worse than you made it out to be, to put it bluntly it's infected. If you move around too much the infection will only spread faster, so no walking for you." Carter opened her mouth to protest but winced before she could speak as her eyes shot down to the very leg that had one too many holes in it. "God bloody damn it…" Carter muttered as she turned her head to the side to get a better view of where they actually were.

Soon enough they reached the end of the corridor which lead to outside. About bloody time. It was already almost dark outside, and the sky was littered with millions of tiny white stars, complete with a huge full moon that reflected off of Carter's snowy white skin, making her almost glow under the moonlight. Judging from the smell of salt in the air and the humidity, Bond could tell that they were by the ocean, and somewhere tropical. He also took his time to take in their surroundings, they were surrounded by buildings, all derelict and way beyond repair, just empty shells. All of them looked the same, except for one building. This building looked as if it had just been built, and was by far the largest in the area. Without exaggeration it looked like a palace, a very odd and out of place palace. Every single window was lit with a pale yellow light and the faint sound of classical music could be heard from within. "This way, the boss is waiting for you inside." One of the guards pointed towards the well-kept building with his gun, only to point it back at the two agents who were too busy being bewildered by the buildings' sheer size but complied all the same. As they entered through the two massive double doors they found themselves standing in a large hall like room, which was moderately filled with people they had never seen before, all wearing highly expensive looking ball gowns and tailored suits. To say that it was fancy would be a major understatement to say the least. All eyes were now on both of the agents who compared to everyone else's appearance looked rather scruffy. Both of them soaked through and filthy. Not to mention their ripped clothing that didn't suit the occasion in the slightest.

"What the hell is going on here…?" Carter whispered/hissed into Bond's ear. Said agent didn't have the slightest idea but one thing was for certain, he didn't feel comfortable with so many pairs of eyes looking at them both. Not only were they outnumbered but most likely seriously outgunned as well, and would be suicide if they, well he tried to make a run for it. "James, Lydia! How good of you to come and grace us with your presence!" A very familiar voice rang throughout the large room. The two agents' well trained ears and eyes both traced the source of the voice and found the man standing at the top of the very grand looking staircase, dressed in a highly expensive tailored navy suit, complete with intricate silver embroidery and buttons to finish it off. Carter physically went ridged in Bond's arms as she caught sight of the man who had now made a total of three attempts to end her life. "Come, we can't have the guests of honour looking like that now can we?!" he exclaimed cheerfully whilst extending his arms out towards them. They got pushed forward and carried on walking till they got to the bottom of the staircase, where Bond shifted Carter's weight slightly so that he could ascend the stairs, trying his best to ignore the harsh stares they were both getting from all the other guests in the room. The way Carter's body had tensed up as they got nearer the man, made Bond feel like he was carrying a statue rather than a person. As they followed the still unknown man up the stairs, finally out of sight of the other guests they stopped outside of a relatively large door before the man turned around again to face them. "This is your room; you have roughly two hours to get yourselves looking respectable. Oh and there is a medical kit in there for that small wound of yours my sweet pea. After all, you are going to be on your feet quite a lot tonight." He pulled a sly grin before walking back the way he came. "Use your time wisely, you are the guests of honour after all!" he laughed again before disappearing down the stairs. Both agents looked at each other in suspicion, they were being left alone, with only two guards patrolling either ends of the long corridor, neither that close to where their actual room was.

Bond opened the door with caution, expecting there to be a nasty surprise on the other side. But found nothing, just an empty, and rather luxurious looking hotel room that made even the most expensive hotels back in London look shabby. "Well this is, nice…" Carter commented the obvious with slight disbelief behind her words. "Indeed. Okay, I'm going to place you down now and look for that medical kit, alright?" Carter just nodded, only half listening as she was still taking in how luxurious this room actually was. As Bond Placed her down on top of the king sized bed sheets he tried and failed to keep back a chuckle as he watched the overly plumped up quilt almost swallow Carter whole. Only muffled curses and groans could be heard from the agent as she tried to pry herself out of the beds' clutches, only to fail miserably and disappear again, her feet poking out being the only indication that she was actually there. Then Bond noticed that her leg was bleeding a lot again and rushed to the bathroom to find some antibiotics and bandages. He found them almost straight away and was just about to go back to Carter when he heard her almost roar "Stupid son of a bitch!" which was accompanied with a low thud that made the soaps in the bathroom jump. Bond almost dropped everything he was carrying, the only thought that popped into his mind was that Carter was being attacked again. "What the bloody hell was tha-" he cut himself off as he noticed that Carter was no longer buried within the depths of the bed, but was now fully face planted on the floor right next to it. For a moment or two she didn't move and Bond thought she had knocked herself out, as the mattress was quite high up and would have been a nasty fall if she had rolled off, which is what she had evidently done. "Carter? Are you still conscious…?" Bond asked as he walked over the side of the bed, placing the bandages near the edge as he crouched down and gave her a light poke in the shoulder. If not a millisecond later she sat up faster than a bolt of lightning, almost head-butting Bond in the face whilst rubbing her forehead. "Che, che, che…" She mumbled before stepping on the bottle of antibiotics that had rolled off of the bed at some point and slipped over again. This time successfully taking Bond off of his feet with her. "Ah, damn it… Didn't see that bottle there…" Carter said almost, _almost_ pouting whilst rubbing the back of her head. "I never would have guessed…" Bond deadpanned sarcastically and tried to get up. This sudden movement took Carter off guard for once and she ended up head-butting him with a hard smack. "Ow! Jeez… give me some warning before you do that! Wait am I bleeding? Oh great I'm bleeding from my friggin' head!" Carter half screeched whilst scrambling off of bond and stood up using the side of the bed as leverage. Before long she was finally stood upright on her own, limping over towards the bathroom in record time despite having a seriously injured leg.

Carter must have stood in front of the full sized mirror for over ten minutes, just staring, in silence, mind blank. She looked like she had just been hit by a train then dragged across a dirt track. Then she dropped to her knees, but not intentionally, she couldn't feel her legs anymore, literally… "…Bo- James…? Come here please, I-I can't move my…" she trailed off as she could almost feel the numbness travel up to her waist at an alarming rate. Within seconds Bond was in the bathroom with her, it had taken a while for his mind to register her request because she had just called him by his first name… And not a second too late either as he caught her just as she was about to fall backwards, not even able to keep her back upright anymore. "James… I can't feel my legs or my waist… where's the medical kit? Show it to me please, show me all the medication in there. Before I can't use my arms…" Bond did as he was instructed, as Carter was bound to have a lot more medical experience than he did, and time wasn't on their side in the slightest. He watched as she scanned the ingredients that was labelled on each box of tablets and other ointments at unimaginable speeds. Once she had finished she put her hand into her trouser pocket and produced the three bullets she had taken out earlier. "James, can you wash these under the tap for me? Make sure all of the blood is off of them." As she handed them to him he briefly examined them, he hadn't seen any bullets like these before… As he washed them they returned to their natural colour of a dull silver colour before handing them back to her. "Other arm James, my hand has already gone numb and is now useless." He just looked at her with concern and dare he say plain worry plastered across his features. She was being so calm despite the whole situation they were in, her body shutting down on her at a terrifying rate, yet here she was calmly requesting him to wash a few bullets.

She briefly examined the three now clean bullets in her hand, and to Bond's confusion and mild alarm she bit down on one, before spitting the contents from her mouth into the walk in shower next to her. "Yeah, titanium bullets, how typical of you, Edward, how typical…" She mumbled to herself as she placed the bullets back into her pocket again. "Okay James, I need you to follow what I say down to the last letter, alright?" she didn't wait for a reply and began going through a list of the tablets she needed. "Two Ibuprophen tablets, one cold and flu tablet, three doses of Cocodamol, one dose of antibiotic ointment, five mint sweets and every single coffee packet you can find. All the tablets I mentioned, crush them into one single powder and put it in a glass, fill halfway with tap water then add the Cocodamol, antibiotic ointment and the all the coffee. Once you've done that mix it up and hand it over to me please." Bond just nodded as he processed all this information perfectly. He may not have been an expert on medicine but he had a perfect memory. As he handed the glass of medication over to Carter which had turned a funny blue colour once everything was mixed, his curiosity got the better of him. "What are you going to do with that? And what are the mints and coffee for?" he asked whilst sitting in the chair that had been placed in the corner of the large bathroom. Carter just looked from the glass of frothing liquid to Bond's face and then back again. "I'm going to drink it of course. These bullets are made of pure titanium, which has a lethal effect on the blood system, effectively destroying the iron blood cells and replacing them with titanium blood cells, the change in the DNA is so rapid that a human body just isn't capable of handling it, and I am no different. And the mints and coffee are just because this is going to taste vile and if we are having a ball then I'm going to need one bloody big energy boost." But before Bond could say anything or protest she brought the glass up to her mouth. "Cheers." Is all she said before literally chugging the entire contents down as quickly as she could, some of it even escaping her mouth and began to trickle down her chin. You only needed to look at her facial expression to get some form of idea as to how horrible the liquid tasted. Her face was so screwed up it looked almost painful. As soon as the liquid had vanished she put all five mints into her mouth at once and began to viciously chew on them, trying her damn hardest to get the taste out of her mouth before she threw it all up again. Soon enough she was leaning her back limply against the mirror just as her right hand finally lost its ability to function altogether, causing Carter to lose her grip on the glass, and just watched it smash against the tiled floor. "Oh dear…" is all she said before letting her head fall back against the mirror with a thud.

"Carter…? Can you answer me?" Bond stood up from his seat when he didn't get a reply he walked back over to her unmoving form and waved his hand in front of her face once, causing her glazed over eyes to refocus back into reality. She struggled to blink but managed to look in his direction to let him know that she was till awake. "Alright, blink twice for no, once for yes and three times for haven't got a bloody clue. Okay?" Carter blinked once. "Are you in any pain?" Two blinks. "I take it you have lost the ability to move your neck and mouth?" One blink. "Can you still breathe easily?" One blink. "Is the medicine you made working?" One blink. Carter's eyes then shifted down to look at her left arm, Bond following her gaze. At first nothing happened, then her fingers twitched ever so slightly, soon followed by a single foot twitch. Ten minutes later Carter was sitting bolt upright of her own free will flexing out her muscles, and after much silence Carter finally spoke again. "James, can you bring me the bandages please? I need to treat this wound." She asked whilst smiling slightly. Bond came back into the bathroom, but instead of handing the bandages over like he was asked he sat down on the floor next to her and gently lifted her injured leg till it was resting against his knee. Carter didn't protest, partly because her limbs still felt fuzzy but also because she never imagined such a skilled agent such as Bond to be able to be so gentle. Bond ripped off the bottom of her torn and filthy trouser leg to reveal the wound underneath. The purple skin that surrounded the wound was now gone, no doubt from what Carter drank. He looked back up to Carter whose eyes were half closed but he could tell she was still awake. "This is going to hurt, Lydia." Is all he said, earning a wide eyed stare from her. But was short lived as she soon snapped her eyes shut and gritted her teeth as he washed a warm cloth over her leg, removing all the dirt and dried blood away. Once the wound was clean he gave her a minute to calm down before warning again. "This part is going to sting, ready?"

"Just do it already. Don't worry about my pain, means that I have full control over my body again." Bond just nodded before applying the antiseptic ointment to her leg, earning a low growl from Carter. As soon as this was done he began to wrap her leg up in the bandages, making sure that every inch of her wound was covered and protected from infection. "Thank you." Carter breathed out as she began to get up, with the help of Bond of course. "Um, I could really do with a shower right now, if you don't mind. I won't be long." Carter said whilst pulling a crooked smile. "Are you sure you're alright?" Bond asked, still holding onto Carter just in case she fell. "Yeah I'll be fine, I'll be fifteen minutes tops." She reassured him whilst gently easing out of his hold to lean herself against the glass wall of the shower. "Alright, but if you need me I'll be in the next room okay?" Carter just nodded and watched as he left and closed the door behind him. It didn't take much effort to remove her clothes, as they pretty much fell to pieces on the floor. She sighed as she inspected her arms and torso, which were covered in shallow cuts and yellowing bruises and stepped into the massive walk in shower that was the same length as the entire room. As soon as she walked past the sensor, gushes of heavenly warm water cascaded down onto her skin, almost like a massage just from the force of the water. She loved the feeling of the water pounding against her sore muscles; she did effectively become paralysed after all. She even amazed herself at how you could make such a complicated antidote from everyday medication that you can get anywhere. Unfortunately the person she had to thank for having such advanced knowledge on medication was the very man that was trying to kill her. She knew he was toying with her, she knew that he knew she was more than capable of healing herself, but also knew it would be painful. He thrived on pain and so far, he was getting his own way. She leaned her back against the opposite wall and slowly let herself slide down to the floor, her head now against her knees her pent up emotions finally got the better of her.

Even in the other room, Bond could hear the faint sounds of Carter crying; obviously this was as much as she could take; hell even he would start to lose all rational thinking if he were in her shoes. Then, after a few minutes, the only sound that could be heard was the pounding spray of the shower. They only had an hour and a half left before they had to leave, and Bond knew she needed some comforting right now, so he finally made up his mind and re-entered the bathroom. Carter had managed to regain control over her heart and pulled back her tears. Even so she still felt broken inside, beaten while she was still down and kicked to the side to be forgotten. She was so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she didn't even notice Bond opening and closing the door, not noticing him walk into the shower with her until he sat down next to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and pulling her towards his chest. They just sat there for a moment or two, not saying a word, just listening to the sound of the water hitting their bare skin. Carter was surprised that he came in, but didn't push him away; she knew that she needed his company so why run away from it? She looked up to him to find that he was already looking at her, their faces only inches apart, till Bond closed the gap between them. The kiss was gentle at first, a simple press against each other's lips. Then it steadily grew into something passionate, more needy. For the first time in a while Carter finally felt safe, safe from outside world, safe from all the people that were after them, safe from the living nightmare that she had gotten herself tangled in. She was completely relaxed in his arms as he laid her back flat against the heated tiled floor. With their lips still connected he gradually eased himself down till their stomachs and chests were flush against each other, both of them almost forgetting their surroundings.

Carter let her fingertips roam up his back, tracing over his well-toned muscles and kept travelling till they gently tangled themselves in his soft short hair. She felt Bond lift her wounded leg and moved it till her carve of her leg was resting on his back, well out of the way of being injured again but also served a different purpose. Their kiss had now become a fierce battle for dominance, both agents panting heavily from the lack of air that their lungs greatly desired. A battle that still remained unsettled as teeth clashed and tongues danced. But in the end Bond won the battle with a small nip to Carter's bottom lip causing her to gasp, and dived in at the opportunity, taking complete control over Carter's mouth. Their lips soon parted and Bond's lips travelled along her jawline and down to her neck where his lightly bit down. Even so, such a gesture was more than enough to make Carter's back arch off of the floor with a silent scream tumbling from her open mouth. This only aroused Bond even further as her body slammed into his, causing him to lose all self-control as he made a speedy trail of nips, licks and kisses down to her stomach and back again, paying particular attention to her modest sized breasts by giving them the attention they needed. Carter felt like she had just turned to jelly as he slowly thrust into her till their hips touched. Bond saw white spots dance across his eyes as he finally entered her. She felt so warm as she welcomed him into her arms and pulled him into another searing kiss. Bond picked up his speed as soon as he felt Carter squeeze her thighs against his letting him know to carry on. He dived deeper into her warm cavern and repeated this action multiple times till she too saw white spots invade her vision to the point where her body jolted and twitched in pure ecstasy. Bond shortly followed as his body did the same thing which just added to the pleasure as he released all he was worth into her till he physically couldn't hold himself up any longer and collapsed down onto Carter's water slicked body. Said agent had never felt something so blissful in her entire life. Sure she had done this before but it didn't come anywhere close to what she had just experienced and would certainly remember it for the rest of her days.

She was so caught up in her blissed out state that she didn't even notice Bond pull away and grab a bottle of shower cream from the shelf in there with them till she felt the cold liquid hit her stomach causing her to snap out of her daze and almost shrink away from it as it oozed over her skin. Bond then leaned forward slightly and began to rub the liquid round in small circles till it formed small white fluffy bubbles, and repeated this action till her entire torso was covered in bubbles, sparing her head which he could hardly see now because of the height the bubbles had formed. Then he leaned back and let the water gradually wash away all the soap till he could see pale skin again. But then before he could fully register what was happening Cater suddenly snatched the bottle of soap out of his hand and pushed him backwards so that their positions were reversed, and began doing the same thing he had done to her but at a much slower rate, driving him mad. He watched her with a small amount of amusement as he noted how concentrated her face was, trying his hardest not to let out a small chuckle at how cute she looked. She had even gone as far as to bite the corner of her lip before leaning back again and watch the soap wash away. Then she leaned forward one last time, giving him a simple but long kiss on the lips before using her good leg to stand up again, Bond following directly afterwards, holing her steady around her sufficiently curvy and toned waist from behind. Carter didn't mind the gesture in the slightest and actually felt safer with his large hands holding her in place as she reached for the shampoo before squirting a modest amount into the palm of her hand.

After putting the bottle back where she had found it she turned around in his hold till she was facing him again before rubbing the shampoo into Bond's soaking hair with her fingertips till it began to froth and bubble. Once she was satisfied she hadn't left a strand of hair uncovered she leant back against his arms that had wrapped themselves around her and let the water do the rest for her. She then took the same bottle again and repeated what she had done before, but with a larger amount of the liquid and in her own hair till she felt it become soft again and not full of dried blood and dirt. Bond hadn't noticed how long her hair actually was as this was the first time he had seen it fully down and that it stopped just at the small of her back. Once they had washed their faces and were both thoroughly clean, they walked past the shower sensor which turned the water off and into the main part of the bathroom where Bond pulled out two white fluffy bath robes from the towel cupboard as well as a hand towel for Carter to wrap her hair up in. They then left the bathroom to search for the clothing that had been provided for them, Bond finding his straight away, but it took some time and quite a bit of searching to find Carter's and quite frankly she was dreading what she would find. "Oh you've got to be kidding me!" was all that could be heard from the spare room on the other side of the hotel complex. "What is it? It can't be that bad-" "DON'T COME IN!" Carter screeched and slammed the door and locked it before Bond even had chance to take hold of the handle. He just sighed as he knew he wouldn't be seeing her till she was fully dressed, not unless he kicked the door through, effectively obliterating the flimsy lock that was supposed to prevent anyone from entering. What he found on the other side was quite a spectacle. There Carter was, standing there holding her dress in front and away from her as far as her arm would allow as if it were a bomb. Then she looked at Bond with an unimpressed facial expression.

"I thought I told you- ah forget it I didn't expect you to listen but what is this? What even is this, does he seriously expect me to wear something that has so many gems on it that it makes my eyes hurt?! Don't answer that…" Bond just stared at her in disbelief. Never in his life had he heard someone talk so fast in one sentence before. "I'm sure you will look even more beautiful than you already do Lydia, and not to alarm you but we have just over an hour left…" Carter's eyes widened at this new information and acted within seconds. Already taking the dress off the heavy duty hanger which only meant that the dress itself weighed quite a bit before almost throwing her bath robe onto the spare double bed, not even caring that bond was still in the room before pulling out a random pair of underwear which surprisingly just happened to be her size, slipping them on and then stepping into the dress that in her opinion looked like a disco ball. In all fairness the dress looked beautiful. It was a midnight blue colour with small crystal-like gems cascading down from the strapless bust line where it puffed out considerably which just showed how many petticoats were hidden away underneath it. "James, could you tie the laces at the back for me please? I can't reach them." Bond complied by pulling the two ends of the laces together till Carter told him to stop and then tied them together at the bottom into a small bow; similar to how he had tied his bow tie. Bond's suit was a little over the top for his tastes, but then again this was a ball. Made of 100% satin and the same midnight blue colour as Carter's dress with black lapels, Carter could hardly keep her eyes off of him through the mirror. By now they were both dressed in all their shining glory, quite literally, as every time Carter moved the light would reflect off of the gems creating a shower of light on the walls.

"Right all that is left to do is dry and style my hair and apply some makeup I suppose… would you like me to dry yours too?" She asked whilst pointing to the hairdryer, straighteners and curling tongs that had been provided for them, well Carter to use. "If you don't mind." Bond said politely before sitting down on the edge of the bed and watch Carter unwrap the hand towel, letting her hair fall down her back and drip slightly on the wooden floor. Carter noticed his staring through the mirror in front of her and chuckled slightly. "You are going to be awfully bored by the time I have finished you know. It takes me quite a while to fully dry my hair because of its length." She stated but only seeing Bond pull a small smile. "Oh don't you worry about me, I have _other _ways of entertaining myself while I wait for you…" he trailed off and made it obvious as to what he meant by slowly shifting his line of sight up and down the entire length of her body before pulling a small grin. "…" Carter didn't say anything, too stunned to say anything. So she decided to just concentrate on the task at hand by switching on the hairdryer whilst combing through her hair at the same time. Twenty minutes later she had dried Bond's hair as well as her own and had curled into ringlets which bounced occasionally whenever she turned her head. She was now rummaging through the small makeup bag that had been left on the side, which was, hence the name, full of brand new and rather expensive brands of makeup, all relevant to what she was wearing in terms of the colours etc… As soon as this was done, after a few tries of trial and error due to the fact that she had never been to a ball before and therefore had never had to wear so much makeup at once, they were ready. Both agents then slipped their shoes on before heading towards the door. "Oh wait, you forgot something." Bond said, and as Carter turned around to see what it was she was spritzed with some kind of perfume that also looked rather expensive but smelled like a piece of heaven regardless. "Oh right, thank you." She smiled before walking towards the door again, only to stop as she placed her hand on the handle. "I don't like this, at all. How long have we got until we have to go down?" Carter asked; her expression deadly serious. "About thirty minutes I'd say, why?" "In that case I'll tell you exactly who we are dealing with down there; you have every right to know since you have been dragged into this." Carter all but hissed through her teeth at the thought of the man that was single headedly responsible for their suffering whilst gesturing for him to sit next to her on the side of the bed. Once they were both comfortable which was quite hard for carter considering what she was wearing she told him everything.

"The man responsible for the ambush and our kidnapping, as well as several other things, is Edward O'Conner. He used to look after me throughout my childhood when my late mother and father used to have to go on "holiday" as they would call it, as I was too young to understand that they actually risked their lives serving under the very organisation that I am in right now. He was also a very skilled doctor with a knowledge on medicine and the works of the human body that would make a biologist look childish, and when my parents were away he taught me everything he knew, that's why I was able to come up with that medicine on the spot. Everything was fine up to the point when Edward discovered our family fortune. Now I don't know how much you know about my family but my family own quite a large sum of money, not in pounds but in dollars, one billion to be exact as my father was American. When he discovered this he tried to blackmail my parents into giving him the lot by half drowning me in our own pool. But his attempt was short lived as my father shot him in the knee, hence why he has a limp now. But that didn't stop him, from then onwards he began to kill off every member of my family one by one till there is only me left. And now he has come after me in order to obtain that very same fortune which has increased slightly since then. I can't say how sorry I am that you got involved in this, but I will end this all, very shortly, that I can promise you." Carter finished telling Bond about her shady past and didn't expect for him to wrap his arms around her and pull her into a heart-warming embrace. "You don't need to be sorry, even if I hadn't been kidnapped along with you, I still would have come and searched for you, and brought you back in one piece, which is how we are both going to leave this nightmare, got it?" Carter could only nod in agreement as she took in what he had said.

"Now let's go and show them exactly why we are 00 agents of MI6." He said, Confidence thickly layering his voice as he stood up, pulling Carter with him as they walked towards the door, opening it with one swing. Once they were in the corridor Bond wrapped his right arm lightly around Carter's waist as they descended down the staircase towards the ballroom which was now almost full with people in various dresses and tuxedo's. But from what Bond could see, what they were wearing was by far the most spectacular, especially Carter's dress, which was in a whole different league compared to the dresses that surrounded her. Obviously purposely to make her feel uncomfortable, which was working due to the fact she was shaking ever so slightly against Bond's arms. Some of the stares from the other women in the room were like daggers as they had all stopped lazily twirling to watch the two agents clad in midnight blue descend the grand staircase. Not only were they envious of the dress but also who Carter was with, to say he was handsome would have been a massive understatement. They looked more like gods rather than MI6 agents, not that they knew that of course. As the left the stairs and walked towards the large crowd which parted wherever they moved, mostly so that Carter's dress could get through, low whispers of the likes of _"Who is that girl, and why is she dressed so beautifully with such a handsome man…?"_ Spread across the room like mist making them both feel under the spotlight.

They were so distracted by these whispers that they didn't even realise they were in the centre of the ballroom with everyone surrounding them at the edges till the both heard clapping from one individual. "Beautiful, simply beautiful my sweet pea! Oh how your dear mother and father would be so proud to see such a fine young woman their daughter has turned out to be! And my Mr Bond you look rather dashing yourself, no wonder the women go head over heels for you!" The man now known as Edward O'Conner exclaimed enthusiastically as he always made a habit of doing. This caused some of the women in the room to quietly gasp as they realised Bond was favoured by quite a lot of women. Carter just about managed to force back a scowl as he mentioned the very two people he had recently just murdered so casually, and quite frankly she wanted to lash out at him right there and then. Bond noticed this and made the hold around her waist that ever so slightly tighter, if she lashed out at him now, she would be as good as dead as he didn't doubt for a second that he wasn't armed with some sort of lethal weapon. Just as the silence was about to get to Bond, Edward clapped his hands twice before walking over to the two of them. "May I take the first dance, Miss Carter?" He asked while smiling and doing what she knew was a mock bow towards her. Carter's eyes briefly shifted around the room as she watched the guards that had secretly been placed there all move slightly as he made this request, now knowing that she didn't have much of a choice unless she desired to become swish cheese. She half sighed but only so that Bond and Edward could have heard or noticed, everyone else passing it off as light breathing before letting him take her blue glove cladded hand and effectively pull her out of Bond's grasp till they were a good five feet away. As soon as Edward put his hand more than a little firmly against the small of her back, the other entwined with her own hand, the music began, and a rather fast paced one at that. If not for her many years' of experience at dancing, she would be falling and tripping all over the place. It also helped that she was vaguely familiar with the piece that was being beautifully played by the large orchestra that sat on a stage at the back of the room. "Very impressive my dear, you never cease to amaze me with how well you can dance." Edward complimented her, even though she knew he didn't mean it. In truth she was barely able to keep up with the amount of times he spun her round, swapped arms, leaned her over till her head was merely millimetres away from the floor and just generally jerked her around was making her feet and arms ache, not to mention making her rather dizzy.

Bond on the other hand was quite a skilful dancer himself, as he was now proving with his partner who had asked him to dance with her as soon as he had separated from Carter, much to his displeasure, who also looked like she was about to collapse with the way she was being towed around, not to mention on her injured leg which he noticed that Edward purposely made her put most, if not all her weight on for the majority of the dance. As soon as the music had finished Carter looked like she was about ready to face-plant, but didn't even have the chance as she was pulled back into Edward's arms once again. "Oh no my dear, you danced so well to that last piece that you have earned yourself another dance with yours truly." Carter lifted her hand up to punch the man in the face but was caught by his and forcefully opened so that he could tangle his fingers with hers again, everybody but Bond and the guards mistaking it as them getting ready for the second dance of the night. Bond almost had a heart attack when he saw Carter go to give him what would have been quite a nasty right hook if he hadn't been expecting it. Then nearly having a second heart attack when he saw the pure, defined rage that had graced itself across her features, but to his surprise it soon disappeared as soon as the music began to play. More than likely because he knew this particular piece was quite slow paced, but being twice as long made it all the more aggravating. And slow paced it was, as all they did for the entire melody was gently sway from side to side with the exception of the occasional twirl and change of direction. Bond and Carter often ended up dancing right next to each other, whether it was by mere coincidence or on purpose they couldn't tell, but then Bond looked at the way his temporary partner was looking at Carter. To say it was smug would be an understatement and Carter could feel the woman burn holes into the back of her head from her staring. Then there was Edward, who was doing the exact same thing to Bond but for completely different reasons that had nothing to do with jealousy or envy.

It was more like he was saying with his eyes and smirk _"I have her literally dancing, in the palm of my hand, out of your reach without a single damn thing you can do about it." _They even occasionally bumped shoulders they were dancing so close. Then out of nowhere Carter suddenly felt more alive than she had even felt before, full of energy that was never there before. _"About time that coffee kicked in…" _Carter mentally complained but then picked up the pace of their dance but not so that it looked out of place. Now it was Edward that was struggling to keep up, and she'd be damned if she wasn't going to wear him down till he couldn't stand for making her dance with him to two pieces of music right after each other. Then the music changed to something Carter was very familiar with, and was one of the fastest pieces of music she knew. Perfect. It was if luck was finally getting its arse into gear and helping her out. With new determination she took control over the dance, towing Edward around who was still trying to figure out why she had suddenly gained so much energy in such a short space of time. Then he looked at how diluted her pupils had become and one thing sprang to mind, caffeine. And lots of it. "Very clever my sweet pea, but caffeine burns out very quickly, and with the amount you've consumed you will start to feel the side effects of what else was in there soon enough." Edward smirked, he knew that Carter had a particular taste for coffee and knew that she wouldn't leave it untouched regardless the reason for using it. "Tell me, how many packets did you consume?" he asked whilst twirling her around. "… Haven't got a bloody clue." Carter half spat but what she had said was completely true, she had no idea how much coffee she had consumed. Then Edward put his fingers to his ear and mumbled something that was just out of Carter's earshot, her fear only grew when she saw his grin grow wider and wider and he was being spoken to on the other side.

"Well, my Intel tells me you consumed a grand total of 25 packets! You should be feeling the after effects any time soon." Then to Carter's dismay her vision began to blur and double, then double again. "What the…?" is all she could say before her world began to spin, and not because of the twirling as she felt her heart rate go up tenfold. She felt sick and oddly paranoid, constantly shifting her eyes over the hundreds of people that surrounded her. Bond noticed this but couldn't figure out for the life of him why. Then the music stopped and Bond watched Edward make his way over to the stair case along with Carter who looked incredibly nervous, and the only thing stopping her from making a run for it was his arm that was wrapped tightly around her waist. They walked up to the fifth step before turning back around to face the now gathering audience. Two guards then positioned themselves either side of them, to make sure Carter wouldn't escape. "Ladies and gentlemen, we are all here at this ball to celebrate the magnitude of generosity from none other than Miss Lydia Carter, who had kindly agreed too donate a total of one billion dollars towards my company in hope that it will help beat the cruel ways of cancer that has taken so many lives. And I just want to say to you, Miss Carter, thank you so much for your generosity, it will never be forgotten!" The hall was suddenly filled with hundreds of claps and cheers; the only person who didn't was Bond who had the exact same facial expression as Carter, utter disbelief. Carter just wanted to scream right there and then, she was prepared for nearly everything, but this, this was on a whole new level and she could see a way to get out of it, not while there were so many overjoyed faces looking at her after they had been told such a huge lie that would pull on anybody's heartstrings. He had no intention of using the money for the cause of cancer, he wanted it for himself and knew that there wasn't a damn thing she could do about it. Then it hit her like a ton of bricks, she was having a caffeine overdose, and a big one. She had to think rationally and cut out all the sounds that were surrounding her. She was a 00 agent for a reason and now needed to think like one, not get held up by emotions.

So she did the first thing her instincts told her to do, deal with it. It took all her will power in order to snap herself out of her dazed state, and now it was time to show what she could really do. In a blink of an eye she whirled around in Edward's arm, much to his alarm till she was facing one of the guards, where she then forced herself away from him and kicked the guard closest to her right in the chin, effectively knocking him off of his feet. Once he was down she removed both of his guns, using one of them to shoot him at point blank range which caused panic to explode throughout the room. Once she shot him she turned to the other guard on the other side, shooting him in the chest before turning back around completely before throwing the extra gun towards Bond, who caught it and began to take down all the other guards that were now trying to get over to Edward through the screaming and running crowds of people who was making a run for it. Carter didn't miss this for a second and threw her shoes off and bolted after him faster than she had ever ran before, completely ignoring the throbbing protests from her leg. She was now running off pure adrenalin and wasn't going to stop till she shot him down. Edward burst through the double doors on the other side of the room before sprinting headlong down the corridor, Carter hot on his heels. The dress was a mild inconvenience but didn't slow her down in the slightest, her bare feet painfully pounding against the tilled marble floor to the point where they even began to bleed. Then she saw him slow down to turn a corner and didn't hesitate to take the opportunity to fire. Unfortunately he just happened to turn the corner just as the bullet skimmed past him, burying itself in one of the many pillars that held up this structure. "Damn it!" Carter roared as she turned the same corner, not realising that he had stopped and was now hiding behind a doorway. Carter ran straight past him and kept going down the very long corridor, wondering where the hell he had gone. Bond had ran after Carter as soon as she had gone after Edward, that last thing he was going to do is just sit by and watch while Carter could easily slip up as she was being fuelled by her emotions. But as soon as he turned the same corner he had seem Carter and Edward turn into he didn't expect to get hit across the back of the head by some blunt object, effectively flooring him. As soon as he was on his knees Edward appeared from behind him and snatched away the gun he had been carrying. Soon enough Bond was on his knees with a gun pointed to the back of his head. He could see Carter bonding down the Corridor, unaware that Edward had given her the slip, until he called out to her. "Carter! You will hand over the money right now, unless you want to be responsible for the death of 007!" he laughed mechanically as both he and Bond watched her skid to a halt and spin around. It took her a second to take in the scene in front of her before she shot straight back in the direction she had come from, going as fast as her legs would allow her.

"Don't you dare!" she roared again as she came closer and closer to them at an alarming rate. Edward was temporarily distracted by the sheer speed she was travelling and Bond took this opportunity to dive out of the way. Edward now more focused of what was bounding towards him with the intent to kill, pulled up the gun towards her, in attempt to scare her, but nothing changed. She still carried on, blinded by rage and disgust for the man and as soon as she was close enough to him they both fired. Edward dropped to his knees with a bullet in the middle of his forehead. Carter dropped the gun she was holding and sighed deeply. "It's done… It's finally-" Carter was cut off mid-sentence as she felt a wave of pain wash over her abdomen. She looked at Bond who was staring at her in horror, then looked down at her own stomach, only to find the dark blue fabric quickly becoming soaked in red. Edward had shot her exactly the same time she had shot him; and neither of them had missed. Blood spilled out of her mouth and dripped off her chin like water before she too dropped to her knees, her legs no longer able to hold up her weight. As soon as she hit the floor Bond rushed over to her. "Lydia! Lydia, come on, stay with me, you hear? You need to stay in the force a lot longer than this…" Bond hadn't felt this hopeless since he had lost the previous M before Mallory, and now the one person that after such a long time he had opened his heart to was now dying right in front of him. Her breathing was heavy, her eyes half closed and the amount of blood that kept pouring out from between her lips was tearing him apart. He turned her over onto her side for a second to untie the laces at the back of her dress, to try and relieve some of the pressure that was pressing down on her stomach. As soon as they were loose carter let out a small sigh of relief as the pressure vanished. "Ah, that's… better…" Carter managed to force out between gurgles of blood before letting her head rest against Bond's hand, who had picked her up and let her rest against his lap.

"Hey, don't… look like… that, James. I-I did what I came here… for. So smile, and be happy, I know I… am." Carter said slowly between gasps for air and more blood gurgles. Then out of nowhere MI6 agents swarmed through the doors, including a medical unit which was next to the two agents within seconds. "Don't worry about me; focus of saving her life damn it!" Bond shouted at them as they tried to treat his wounds. Then they saw the girl in his arms, not familiar with her face but saw that she had been shot in the abdomen. One of the agents in the medical looked up at Bond silently asking who she was and he answered by grabbing him by the collar of his shirt. "That is agent 006 Lydia Carter and you will save her life right now!" The doctor's eyes widened as he discovered who was currently bleeding to death in Bond's arms. "We'll do our best sir!" He then turned to the rest of the unit who had already cut open the front of her dress revealing the bullet wound just to the left above her belly button. After seeing the severity of the wound they all swarmed around her till Bond couldn't see her anymore. "Get an oxygen mask on her now! You, give her some damn morphine and try to stop the bleeding! You two hold her down while I pull this bullet out! What, she's not breathing?! Oh bloody hell! Perform CPR right away, get her heart restarted immediately! We are NOT going to lose another 006 agent, not on my watch!" The doctor, obviously the head of the medical unit barked out and all the other medics whirled around with their new orders, each doing what they were told. And as soon as the bullet was pulled out a press was put down to try and stop the gushing crimson liquid that came out of it. While this was happening they charged up the shocker pads before one of them shouted "Clear!" and then releasing a high voltage throughout Carter's body. Bond just watched in horrified silence as he watched Carter's lifeless body jolt from the electricity, then again, and again till to his relief one of them shouted "We've got a pulse! Get her cleaned up right now and patch that wound up, we can't have her losing any more blood!" They quickly complied and soon put her on a stretcher before running quickly towards the double doors where they had come from. As Bond watched Carter get carried away his body acted on its own and dashed after her, only to be restrained by 008 and 009 who had been called at the last minute to join them on the rescue mission if things ended up getting out of hand. "Let go of me 008!" Bond roared as he fought against her strong grip; and even though he managed to get out of it 009 or known as Tyler got a hold of him and forced him to the ground.

"Calm yourself down 007! Bloody hell, this is what we do! Get a grip damn it!" Eventually Bond gave up and just sank to his knees and fell silent, blocking anyone from seeing his face by letting it hang. Tyler now realising how harsh he had sounded sat down next to him, placing his hand on his shoulder. "You heard the doc, she had a pulse. Now they're taking her to a hospital where she will be stabilized, okay?" He tried to reassure his fellow 00 agent as well as friend. He hadn't seen Bond beaten up over someone else's wellbeing in such a long time. He looked so defeated, that spark that made him one of the best agents MI6 had to offer was now nowhere to be seen. Then 008 or known as Alex chimed in by playfully punching Bond on the shoulder. "Yeah! She's gonna be fine! Like whatever this guy said 006 is gonna be taken to a hospital, chill man!" Then 009 looked at 008 and smacked her around the head. "I have a name you know! Anyway let the remaining medics patch you up man; you're covered in blood…" Then Bond looked up at his friend, "This isn't even my blood Tyler, its Carter's…" is all he said before he let his eyes zone out onto something far away. "Carter? Who's Carter? Ohh you mean the chick who got shot-" 008 received another smack to the head before she could finish her sentence as Tyler watched Bond's face become more and more distraught. "Think before you speak damn it! Oh man I'm sorry I didn't know." Is all he said before awkwardly embracing his friend. "She'll be fine, okay? I read her profile before coming out here; if she was an RAF pilot then she'll be built for this kind of thing. Have faith in her strength." "Yeah, crack a smile for once, you're gonna make me depressed!" "With the amount of energy drinks you get through every day that is almost impossible!" "Yeah _almost_! Not completely you halfwit!"

Bond wasn't really paying much attention to the two agents arguing in front of him. His mind was elsewhere, wondering if Carter really was going to make it or if they were just saying that to comfort him, he didn't know. He was so out of whack that he didn't even notice one of the remaining medics come up to him, even going as far as flinching away as they began rolling up his sleeve. "Relax, it's only me, let me look at your injuries. You don't want them to get infected now do you?" Bond just grunted before allowing the medic he frequently saw after nearly every mission tend to his wounds. After a full inspection the medic leaned back again. "Well you aren't in any danger, but as soon as we get back to MI6 you'll need to stop by the medical wing and get them treated and bandaged properly, got it? And you better turn up this time or I'll have you put into a coma for a month." Is all she said before standing up again and walking over to the corpse of Edward O'Conner muttering something along the lines of it being a bloody good shot whilst inspecting the bullet wound. "Come on man, let's get you to the helicopter and leave this hell hole." 009 said as he stood up, pulling Bond to his feet with him. "Yeah, this place gives me the chills. Like the scene from a horror movie, especially with all those guards you killed, I take it that was you right?" Alex chimed again as she pushed Bond forward out of the door. "Yeah, that was me, well except for two of them, Carter killed them not me." "What?! Wow man she shot one of them in the face! Talk about brutal!" She exclaimed excitedly as she already knew she was going to get along with the new 006. But was soon silent again after being given a warning glare from her "partner in crime" as she had recently labelled him as.

Once they were on their way back to headquarters Bond turned to 009 who was almost drifting off to sleep. "Hey Tyler, how long were me and 006 being missing for? And how did you find us?" 009 sighed as he sat up from the slough he had gotten into. "Just over 24 hours, maybe a bit longer. And we found you through the tracking chip that had been planted into 006's arm, ask Q for more details about that. You had the same thing once didn't you? Sounded painful if you ask me." Bond couldn't help but chuckle a little at his friend. "Not really, just felt like I had been stapled in my arm." 009 just stared at him for a second, "I swear you're not human…" He mumbled before staring out of the window again. 008 who was sitting in between them had already dozed off and was muttering about being best friends with 006, God help her… Bond chuckled again before looking out of his own window, already knowing that it was going to be a long flight.

4 WEEKS LATER IN THE MI6 MEDICAL WING:

Carter had just been transferred from a nearby hospital to the medical wing back at headquarters, something to do with regulations and safety of being a 00 agent and whatnot. It had been a real close shave to say the least and they had almost lost her if it weren't for their immediate action. She was now lying in a private bed in a stabilized condition, and had yet to wake up. Bond often visited her, occasionally bringing her a small bouquet of tulips that were scattered around the room in various vases. Even Alex had gone to the trouble to stop by and put a lone dandelion in a cup of water, not really getting the whole concept of nice flowers. But that was as close to sympathetic as she was going to get so the doctors were just going to have to deal with it. "Pshh, lousy, ungrateful little shits… Took me a whole hour to pick out that dandelion! I even nearly fell into an ants nest, that thing was bloody huge!" Alex shouted to nobody in particular as she left the room that Carter was currently in, passing Bond in the corridor as he made his way to where she had just come from. She then stopped him just before he got to the door. "Do NOT touch the dandelion, got it? I went through hell to get that!" She shouted at him before dashing off down the hallway. "…" Bond didn't say anything before opening the door and closing it again behind him. As he walked over to only empty vase in the room, he noticed the legendary dandelion that sat on the bedside table next to Carter's sleeping form and smirked as he began to arrange the flowers he had brought. Until he suddenly heard a raspy sigh from behind him. Almost knocking the vase off of the shelf as he turned round he quickly made his way over to her bed side, just in time to see her slowly crack open her eyes before squinting them shut again from the bright lights above.

"Welcome back." Bond said whilst fiddling with a piece of Carter's long brown shiny hair that had fallen off of the pillow she was lying against. "Hey…" Carter croaked out, her throat felt like sand paper and the Sahara desert all at once. "… Could I have a drink please? My throat is really dry." "Yeah sure, give me a second." Bond stood up again and quickly made his way to the vending machine that was just at the end of the hallway before purchasing two cartons of apple juice and then taking them back to Carter. He helped her sit up in bed and noticed the spotty pyjamas that 009 had borrowed from her house so that she had something comfortable to wear. "Here." He said whilst poking a hole in it with the straw before handing it over to her. Within seconds she had sapped it dry and sighed as she let her head rest against the cool wall. "Thank you." "It's fine, the vending machine wasn't that far away." He stated as he took a sip from his own carton. "I didn't mean just that, I mean for everything, putting up with all the shit that's happened, it means a lot to me. So thank you, James, you were there when I needed you the most." Bond was silent for a while, just remembering when they first met she was so cold hearted and stubborn towards him, and now, she had finally opened up to him and had a personality that matched her features, beautiful. "Ughh, I feel like I've been hit by a car…" Carter groaned as she shifted in her bed. "…Well you did get shot, so it's inevitable that you would feel a little rough. Speaking of which how does your stomach feel? The doctors had to patch you up but you can hardly tell; keyhole surgery is a real life saver you know." Carter just smiled. "I feel sore if that's what you mean and wait- is my leg- aw you've got to be kidding me! It's in a cast?!" Carter all but groaned as she lifted the quilt cover to reveal a white plaster boot covering her leg from the knee down. "You have a fractured shin and a severed tendon, so I'd say you'll be wearing that for another two weeks…"

"That just takes the mick…" Carter sighed before letting her head hit the wall again. "…I guess I can just clean my house with all the time I'll have off…" she shuddered as she recalled how big her house actually was. "Well you can't do field work that much is certain, but you still get paid if you help Q around his office, I'm sure he wouldn't mind some company once in a while." Carter turned her head towards Bond as he told her this, relief washed over her. "Oh good, my house is huge, I'd be there for days!" Bond laughed as he saw Carter's eyes turn to saucers. "I can imagine; if you need a hand I'm more than willing to help you." "Uh, are you sure…? It is pretty bad…" "It can't be that bad. I have nothing better to do, after what we just experienced I have over three weeks off." "Really? Well that's convenient…" Yeah it is, haven't had this long off for a while, so It's nice to have some time off I suppose. I think I should let something know that you're awake now, before I get my head bitten off." And with that he pressed the button near the side of Carter's bed that asked the medical unit for assistance. Within minutes three people came waltzing in through the door. Those three people being Mallory, head of the medical unit and for some unknown reason 008 who looked like she was about to explode with excitement. "Ah 006, I'm glad you're finally awake. How are you feeling?" Mallory asked as he stood at the bottom of her bed "A little sore sir, but apart from that I feel fine thank you." Mallory just blinked, he didn't expect her to say so much in one sentence, as the first time they met she tended to stick to one word answers. "Yes, well, I'm glad you are feeling alright. As you should be aware that your injured leg means that you cannot participate in any field work, and I'm sorry to say this but you still need to complete your physiological exam before you are fully authorised to enter the field, but I'm sure you can manage it." Carter almost sighed before half nodding like she always used to. "Yes sir, whenever is convenient." 008 was about to speak before she was then cut off by the head of the medical unit. "Here are your belongings that you left in the changing rooms when you first joined MI6. Your clothes have been cleaned and pressed and your mobile, house keys, car keys, watch and jewellery are all inside the box. I dare say you are damn lucky to be alive. If it weren't for that tracking chip in your arm you wouldn't be here right now." "Thank you, and wait what? Tracking chip?" Carter looked from the doctor to Bond who just sighed.

"Q planted a tracking chip in your arm when you were having your blood tests taken. Don't worry, I used to have the same but then mine got removed during a mission, so I'm chipless." Then Bond felt a sharp stabbing pain in his upper right arm and looked towards the source to find that the doctor; or better known as Dr Bradley had just pretty much stapled a brand new tracking chip into his arm. "Not anymore you're not; your days of wandering off the radar are now over." "…Shit." Bond hissed whilst rubbing his arm. "You could have waited till I rolled up my sleeve, now I have a hole in my jacket…" "Wait so you're saying that we get tracked…?" Carter asked slowly, still trying to figure out how she hadn't noticed the small lump in her arm before. This time Alex managed to chime in before Dr Bradley had a chance to speak. "Yep! I have one too; look you see this thing right here, that's the chip. So that they can track you down whenever they are bored and see what you get up to." Carter visibly paled at this new information, and then looked at Bond who was shaking his head in denial. "I wouldn't listen to what she says; some of the things she comes out with aren't even remotely sane…" "Ah shut it blondie! Anyway, do you like the present from me to you? Well do you? It's a dandelion. Here I'll say it again but slower, dan-de-lion." Alex said slowly whilst almost shoving the dandelion in the glass of water in Carter's face. Carter then taking it into her hands just looked at it and then at the girl who was just inches away from invading her personal bubble. "I know what a dandelion is… And um, thank you I guess…?" Carter said slowly before placing the cup back onto the bedside table where it was before.

"Great! We're going to get along just fine!" Alex confirmed whilst thumping her fist into her open palm. "Uh-huh… So who are you?" Alex literally exploded at that point at how well their friendship was going already. She dived onto Carter's bed causing her to nearly fall off before sitting crossed legged just where her feet stopped. "The names Lex, remember it! Or 008 if we're on missions. Hey I heard you were a pilot, so you can fly loads of jets and stuff?" She asked whilst cleaning one of her small daggers that she kept sheathed on her back. "I was only authorised to fly typhoons and tornados really which was pretty cool." "Awesome! Hey why don't you fly one of the jets MI6 owns?! Show us what you're made of! She can do that, right sir?" Alex turned to face Mallory, effectively putting him on the spot. He just sighed whilst briefly looking at his watch. "If Miss Carter passes her final exam then I don't see why not. Anyway I have a meeting to go to so I must take my leave now. I wish you a very speedy recovery 006." "Thank you sir." Carter nodded as Mallory left the room. "Okay 006 I just need to run some tests on you, and if everything is okay you're free to go home." "Right, okay thank you." "Not a problem, now 008 would you mind getting off the edge of the bed please?" "Yeah, yeah. Well I'll be on my way now, if yah need me, I'll more than likely be annoying Q. Later!" and with that, she was gone. "Okay 006 I need you to just look directly ahead while I shine this torch in your eyes." Carter did as she was instructed, then having her pulse and breathing checked, as well as her leg and stomach before being handed a pair of crutches as she turned around to stand up for the first time in nearly a month. "Would you like me to drive you home?" Bond asked as the two agents exited the main entrance to the MI6 headquarters. "If it's not too much trouble, my car should still be in the parking lot." Carter smiled as she handed over her car keys to bond.

Soon enough they were standing in front of Carter's rather expensive looking car "That's… a nice car. Are you sure I'm allowed to drive it?" Bond asked as he stared at the brand new metallic grey Porsche Carrera GT. Carter just laughed before motioning for him to get into the driver's side. "Well I can't exactly drive it myself with this leg now can I? Of course you're allowed to drive it." Bond didn't need any more encouragement before he unlocked the car, helped Carter get into the passenger side before taking her crutches and putting them in the boot. As soon as he sat down in the leather driver's seat he turned the ignition, earning a low rev to erupt from the engine. Bond just looked at Carter. "Don't tell me this is the limited sports model…?" Bond asked, only receiving a small grin from a certain 006 agent. "I like speedy cars, that kind of thing happens when you fly a jet for long enough. I couldn't resist." "I never would have imagined you to have a rebellious side, makes you all the more interesting. Right, you lead the way." He said whilst motioning towards the road with his hand. "When you leave the car park turn left, then keep driving straight till the end of the road, then turn right and carry on going till you get to the main road. After that it's pretty much motor way. If it's easier I could just put my address into the Satnav if you want?" Carter suggested, pointing towards the built in Satnav screen on the dashboard. "I think I'll pass, your voice is much nicer than the one on a Satnav." Bond said whilst winking slightly at her. "R-right. Well if you do as I said then we'll be heading on the right track." Bond followed the directions perfectly and soon enough they were ploughing down the motorway at 90 miles an hour, swerving in and out of lanes like nobody's business. "I see you also have a need for speed." Carter commented as they had just breached the 120 mile an hour mark. "This is a sports car; it's designed for these kinds of speeds, am I wrong?" Carter just laughed, but then put her attention back onto the road. "Slow down, you need to take a right off of the motorway soon." Bond complied by turning into a relatively empty lane before slowing down dramatically and then turning into the side lane that Carter had mentioned.

"Just keep going straight till you reach a T junction, then take a left. After that keep on going and the woodland will start to clear." Bond just nodded, as he was now trying to keep the car in the middle of the rather narrow country road to avoid hitting or scraping past any trees. True to Carter's words the woodland did start to clear after a while, eventually revealing a very upper class, highly expensive estate. As soon as the car hit tarmac again they were surrounded by huge, beautiful looking houses, each with their own 20ft front gardens and drives. "So… where do I go from here…?" Bond asked as he admired just how large some of the houses actually were as he drove past them. "Just keep going straight, then when you get to the end of the road it's quite a sharp left you have to take so be careful." Bond complied and turned slowly around the sharp left corner before almost hitting the breaks. As soon as he had turned the corner there were a set of massive cast iron gates, with a single pillar to the right of them that had 'Carter' engraved onto it. "Don't tell me that's your house on top of the hill…?" Bond asked almost breathless as he took in the sheer size of the driveway as well as the mansion that stood at the peak of the hill. "Yeah it is. I know it's too much but my father liked big houses, so he bought the biggest one on this estate. Oh and I'll only be a second, I need to put in the code to open the front gates." Carter explained before opening her door slightly and leaning over to the keypad that was mounted on the side of the pillar. One she had typed in the security code the gates slowly swung open to let the car through. Once she had closed the door again they drove up the mile long drive till they stopped just outside the enormous house. "Shall we?" Carter said as they both exited the car. Bond walked to the boot to get her crutches before they made their way over to the large front door. As Carter fished her house keys out of the pale grey blazer pocket, Bond could help but admire how well her clothes complimented her figure. Well except for the bright white plaster boot that hugged her left leg. "You look the part with those clothes on, almost as good as when you're not wearing anything at all." Bond whispered as he came up behind Carter, effectively sending a shiver down her spine as she turned the handle and pushed the door open. Bond was then stopped in his tracks for a second time as he took in the sight of Carter's hallway, a hallway that could easily fit a double decker bus it was that big. "James would you mind typing in the code for the alarm please? Its 507436*." Bond typed in the code on the keypad near the door and the low buzzing sound that he had only just noticed stopped, indicating that the alarm had been switched off.

As Bond shut the door behind him they walked down the hallway towards the kitchen. Bond also noticed that there was a fairly large shelving unit that was full of various different photo frames, all with photographs of Carter's late family, he presumed. But one photo in particular caught his eye, it was a photo oh Carter's mother and father with Carter herself standing in the middle of them, all wearing genuine happy smiles on their faces. But what intrigued him the most was what had been engraved into the metal at the top of the photo frame, which read "Don't forget 24th May '13." Then it clicked, it was the date that her parents tragically lost their lives to the hands of Edward O'Conner. Bond pushed that to the back of his mind when they entered the kitchen that was easily twice as large as his entire apartment, hallway included. "James…? James?" Bond snapped out of his little daydream when he felt Carter place her hand on his shoulder. "Oh sorry, I zoned out for a second there, what did you say?" Carter just smiled in understanding and pointed towards the two white mugs she had already pulled out of the cupboard. "I asked if you would like some tea? Earl grey or Oolong which would you prefer?" Carter asked as she pulled out the various glass jars that held the tea she had offered. "Or would you prefer something more on the strong side…?" Carter asked again as she opened a class cabinet that was filled with every type of liquor Bond could think of, there were even some brands that he was unfamiliar with. Bond's face lit up at the sight making Carter chuckle. "Well, it seems you know me better than I gave you credit for. But do you know me well enough to know what my personal favourite martini is?" Carter shook her head, letting Bond pull out various different bottles. "Three measures of gin, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shaken well till ice cold and then…" He paused before picking up a lemon from the fruit bowl that sat just next to where Bond was standing and he tossed it into the air before catching it again. "… Served with a large thin slice of lemon peel." He said before pouring all of the alcohol he had mentioned into a frosted crystal martini glass and taking a moderate swig from it. "Hmm I see, is there a name for this particular beverage?" Carter asked as she leant casually against the black granite counter. Bond looked at the drink he had just made and fell silent for a second or two, gently making the liquid ripple in the glass. "I call it, Vesper Martini." Bond said flatly and Carter could see the pained look in his eyes as plain as day.

Carter understood this look all too well and pulled Bond into the most comforting hug she could muster. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up painful memories." She said sympathetically before lightly kissing him on the neck. She then touched the edge of the glass Bond was still holding, making him look at her. "…May I?" She asked with a sincere smile pulling at her lips. "Sure, I'm sure you'll enjoy it as much as I do." Bond said as he handing Carter the glass. He watched as she took an experimental sip out of it, then giving him a satisfied nod of approval. "I can safely say you have an excellent taste indeed Mr Bond." Carter smiled as she felt all the different tastes wash over her taste buds before handing back the glass. "I'm glad we share the same opinion." Bond said before taking the whole thing back in one gulp. "Evidently you can hold your liquor too, that wasn't exactly a shot glass you know." Carter chuckled before pouring him another glass, exactly the same way Bond had and handing it over to him. "Come, there's more of where that came from in the lounge." Carter motioned towards the frosted glass doors that lead to the lounge. As they walked through Bond was amazed yet again as the lounge was bigger than the ground floor of a normal large house. It even rivalled with the lounge that was at his childhood home before it got destroyed, he hated that house with a passion. Carter's lounge was much, much nicer. Off white walls that were lined with art deco portraits, along with a modern long mirror that reflected the light that came from the lowered ceiling in the far corner which was edged with a strip of bright white LED tubing that was just out of view but illuminated the rest of the ceiling. The sofas were a cream white too along with small coffee tables that held black and silver art deco lamps that sat next to them. And the wall furthest to where the two agents were standing was home to an even larger collection of liquor that were lined along the glass shelves which were also lit up by small down lighters. The pale oak wood flooring really made the room look modern as well as the large plain black rug that sat in the middle of it, giving the room a cosy feeling. And off the far left from where they were standing there were a set of stairs that lead downwards to the indoor pool Carter had very briefly spoken about when they were on the island which left rippling patterns on the ceiling just above it as the light reflected off the water. To say this room was impressive would have been an insult to say the least.

"Whoever designed this room was a genius…" Bond said more to himself that anyone, but still made Carter smile. "Why thank you, I'll take that as a compliment." Carter said as she slowly made her way on her crutches to the bar before pouring herself and Bond a Vesper Martini and then sitting down on the three seated sofa closest to her. Bond snapped his head towards his fellow 00 agent in disbelief. "You designed this room…?" Bond all but whispered as he sat down opposite Carter in a single armchair before nodding his thanks as he was given his third martini. Carter nodded yes as she necked the whole beverage back in one go before placing the empty glass on the coffee table next to her. "You're not the only one that can hold their liquor. And yeah I designed this room shortly after my parents passed on; it really needed a fresh lick of paint and to be brought into the 21st century. Besides it was something to do to keep my mind off of things. Do you like it?" She asked him and he nodded as he took back his glass of alcohol before placing the glass on the same coffee table that was sitting between the two chairs. "I do, you certainly know how to style a room that's for certain. It also reflects your personality, simple but classy, not too over the top or bold. To be able to do that as well as you have is impressive." "Thank you." Is all she said before pouring them another set of martinis.

1 HOUR LATER: 

It had past midnight well over half an hour ago and while James had finished on his 6th glass of martini feeling slightly buzzed, Carter was now on her 8th and still going strong. Although he could tell she was more than slightly drunk. Carter was slightly slumped into the back of her chair, currently staring at the plain white ceiling above whilst wondering when she had put on the low jazz music that was playing quietly in the background and attempting to take another sip from her already empty glass but completely missing her mouth. This was when Bond decided she had drunk more than enough and gently took the glass from her hand before she ended up dropping it onto the floor. As he sat back down again she finally spoke after much silence, although it was slow and he could tell she had to really concentrate to get her words out right. "You, you know you asked me… a while ago how I did it, like how managed to act like, nothing but a dream?" Bond nodded as he remembered asking her that during the physical exam, now hating how harsh he had sounded. "Well… you're looking at it, my f-final trick of the night ladies and gentlemen, the legendary alcohol…" Carter mumbled as she picked up her glass that she didn't remember putting down before picking up a bottle of Smirnoff and swigging from that instead. As she placed the bottle back on the table bond saw her drop her head forward suddenly and he thought she had passed out, but then he noticed her shoulders jerk up and down. At first he thought she was silently crying, until he heard her start to laugh. It gradually got louder till she threw her head back up and cocked it to the side. Tears were trickling down her cheeks while she laughed. But it was a laugh filled with grief and hatred for the man that wasn't even alive anymore. She knew that, but she was far too damaged to accept it. Lydia Carter put on a good show, acted brave and tough when in front of others, but now, behind closed doors, her true colours bled out.

Then she suddenly sat up straight a mock saluted. "I apologise sir for showing such improper behaviour as a 00 agent by showing my emotions sir!" she tried to keep a straight face but failed shortly after as she snorted and slapped her hand against her knee. "Who came up with a rule like that?! We're human there's only so much we can hide." She said before picking up her glass again. "Huh, when did my glass become so empty… Did you finish it off, Mr Bond…? Hmm?" Carter half accused whilst pointing at Bond with her empty martini glass. Bond just looked at her with a pained expression on his face, knowing that she was too drunk to notice it. He felt so sorry for her, he may have lost some of the most precious people in his life, but she had witnessed the assassination of her entire family, even coming close to death herself on more than one occasion. "I think you've drank enough, Lydia." Bond stated as she didn't even notice him take her glass off her again. What he didn't expect was for her to suddenly stand up, much to the protests coming from her plastered leg, and begin to walk over to where he was sitting. Unfortunately because she wasn't using her crutches, and probably wouldn't be able to, she lost her balance shortly after taking a step forward and collapsed like a rag doll onto Bond, who had just about managed to catch her in time. "Lydia…? Are you alright?" Bond asked, not being able to move since she had effectively pinned him to the sofa. He got no response, and when he finally did manage to move somewhat he found that she had fallen asleep on him. Bond sighed and scooped Carter's sleeping form up into his arms before standing and making his way to the large staircase that lead to upstairs he had seen in the hallway when they had arrived. As soon as he reached the top of the stairs he was faced with another problem, he had no idea which room was Carter's…

"Lydia..? Wake up for a minute. Lydia!" Bond light shook her awake but she only volunteered to crack one eye open. "Hmm…?" "I'm taking you to bed now, which room is yours?" Bond asked whilst assisting her to sit up in his arms. Once she was eventually familiar of where she actually was she flopped back into his arms and stuck her arm out behind her pointing in the direction for Bond to go. "That way… firrrst door on left…" is all she managed to slur out before passing out for good. Bond carried her to the room that was supposedly Carter's and was confirmed as soon as he opened the door. The room had the same scent that Carter had, and the interior was phenomenal. It was roughly half the size of the lounge with the floor completely covered in a light beige fluffy carpet. All the walls were also crystal white except for the longest wall which was a deep purple and home to one of the biggest beds Bond had ever seen, bigger than king sized to say the least. The bed itself was quite high off of the ground and had a headboard made of padded champagne coloured silk littered with button studs. Bond had also never seen so many pillows and cushions piled on one bed before either, taking up nearly two fifths of its six foot length. Bond gently put her down on the ridiculously comfy mattress before unbuttoning and removing her pale grey blazer and then hanging it up one of her three wardrobes that lined the opposite wall, taking out her keys, jewellery, watch and mobile out of the pockets before getting a glimpse of some of the clothes she wore when not trying to impress officials. This revolved mainly around the infinite pairs of jeans of every style and colour possible, as well as various patterned jumpers, cardigans and hoodies. He then looked towards the bottom of the wardrobe he had opened to find row upon row of various shoes, ranging from flat ballet shoes to baseball pumps to high heels. Not to mention the rack of scarves she had, mostly made from silk except for the occasional knitted one no doubt for the winter months. Bond also noticed she had a particular taste for trench coats, also in nearly every colour imaginable. Seeing all this really showed that she wasn't lacking money anytime soon; and thankfully wasn't snobby about it in the slightest.

Bond hadn't once heard her boast about how much money she owned, which was one of the main qualities he liked about her; how modest she actually was. He knew for a fact that if any other girl was put in her position, they wouldn't shut up about how much shopping they would do, and that frustrated him to know end just thinking about it. He was then cut out of his mini day dream when he heard Carter mumble something incoherent whilst rolling over onto her side and grabbing the cushion closest to her, pulling it to her chest. Bond smiled and walked over towards a chest of draws that Carter obviously used when applying her makeup and styling her hair judging from the moderately sized makeup bag as well as the curling tongs, straighteners and hairdryer. He also discovered where Carter kept all of her nightwear as there was a single pyjama top poking out from one of the draws. Deciding that it was best if he changed her into something more comfortable he pulled out the first pair he came across, which just happened to be a metallic black pair of silky bottoms and a long sleeved shirt. Satisfied with his choice he closed the draw again and walked back over to where Carter had now curled herself up into a ball, still hugging the large cushion. He then slowly managed to get her to lie straight before removing her skirt and shirt and redressing her in the pyjamas he had found. He then raised her broken leg off of the sheets by placing a few of her cushions underneath the cast before taking one of the fluffy throws from the blanket box at the end of the bed and covering her with it. Satisfied that she wasn't going to freeze during the night he turned to leave to crash on the sofa downstairs only to be stopped midstride. Carter had unconsciously grabbed his wrist and it didn't seem that she was going to let go anytime soon. She then to his surprise patted the empty side of her bed whilst mumbling for him not to worry and that there was plenty of room for one more.

Bond cunningly took this as an invitation and now had a backup story if she asked him why he was in her bed. So, after he had taken off his brown leather jacket, navy blue baseball pumps and stone washed denim jeans, now left in only his plain white t-shirt and boxers he carefully climbed into the unoccupied side of Carter's massive bed before covering himself in the other half of the large bed throw. He stared at Carter's closed eyes for a while, noticing how her dark lashes naturally curved and fluttered occasionally meaning she was dreaming. Just watching how peaceful she looked eventually sent Bond off into his own much needed sleep, and for once in a very long time, it wasn't riddled with nightmares. The next morning Bond was awoken by the sound of his mobile ringing and quickly but quietly stumbled out of bed just in time to answer his phone before the ringing stopped. "Bond here." Is all he managed to say before a very familiar voice began to rant and bark down his ear. "About bloody time you answered! Do you realise how many times I've called you? Six! Have you just woken up…? Do you even know what time it is, half two in the afternoon! And where are you anyway, when you didn't answer you phone the first time I had someone stop by your apartment, only to find that you weren't there. I want explanations and now." Q half screeched causing Bond to tilt his phone away from his ear so that he wouldn't become deaf. "Hello to you to… Yes I've just woken up, no I didn't realise how many times you'd called me, and really it's half two? So much for waking up in the morning… And of course I'm not at home I drove 006 back in her car to her house, which is... Large let's just leave it at that. So that's where I currently am. Why do you need me for something?" Bond answered in one breath, somewhat of a habit he had picked up from being around Carter for a long period of time. "… I don't think I've ever heard you say so much at once before Bond, are you feeling alright?" "Never felt better, now what is it you wanted, I'm bloody knackered." "Oh yes, well I don't exactly need you, it's 006 that I need to speak to, her phone is off so I rang you, is she there?" "Oh, yeah she's here. Give me a second." Bond said as he put his phone on mute before turning and leaning over to nudge Carter awake. Once this was finally accomplished she sat up looking like she could murder someone before rubbing her left eye and turning to Bond, who was standing in nothing but his t-shirt and boxers holding out a mobile phone towards her. "Hey sleepy head, sorry to wake you but Q wants to speak to you." Bond explained as Carter took the phone off of him and unmuting it. "Q…? What do you need to speak to me about…?" Carter asked tiredly whilst trying to force herself to stay awake and not yawn whilst talking to Q. "Bloody hell have you only just woken up too? Talk about late risers… Anyway I wanted to speak to you about your car that you drive…" Q fell silent as he waited for her answer. "My car…? What about it? If you want one get your own…" Carter deadpanned, making Q almost face palm on his side of the line and Bond chuckle, which Q didn't miss. "No Carter I don't want your car as gorgeous as it is. I'm telling you it was like a diamond in the ruff sitting there in the car park… I'm going off subject. Anyway speaking of your car, I was wondering would you be interested in letting me add some state of the art, limited edition gadgets to the interior and exterior of your lovely sports model?"

This question made Carter frown in confusion. "Wait what the hell do you want to do to my car?! I like it just the way it is thanks!" "No, no, no I won't be changing how it looks in the slightest, just if I have your consent then your car will be fitted with new technology that will support all your needs as a 00 agent, they'll all be hidden away and only accessible by your fingerprints. So to anyone else it will look like an ordinary Porsche Carrera GT, understand?" Carter thought about this for a moment before speaking again, her head had pretty much cleared away the morning fog that covered her mind and let her think straight. "Okay, what kind of gadgets are we talking about here? And if you change the way my car looks in any way I'll send you the bill for the damage." Carter said, her voice darkening, revealing just how merciless she could be. "… Well after I'm finished with it you'll be able to control your car remotely via your phone, it will have an advanced medical kit fitted into the glove compartment, if you want details on that ask Bond, he used one a little while back. You'll be able to flip your front and back registration plates to reveal two machine guns if you ever get into car chases with the enemy, which always seems to happen with us. I am also working on a piece of technology that will turn your car completely invisible, but it hasn't been tested yet so I'd like to try that out on your car. It will also have an auto pilot system that you can use if you plot the route of your journey beforehand, like a satnav in theory. Your car will also be able to release oil, smoke and sting tacks backwards in order to slow down whoever might be behind you etc. Sound good so far?"

"I like the sound of all of those gadgets, so I'll allow them." "Excellent! Well I'd like to be able to get to work on it ASAP and I know that you have a broken leg so you can't drive it over here, would you mind if Bond drops it off back at HQ so I can modify it?" "Yeah sure. But I swear to god if you-" "Yeah, yeah I know. If I change the way it looks in any way then I'll become buried in debt for the rest of my life, I got the memo. Now get Bond to dive that gorgeous car over here!" "Right, well thanks your letting me know, bye." Carter cut the phone off before sighing and flopping back onto the bed, shortly accompanied by Bond who leaned over till he was millimetres away from Carter's face. "So, what did he want…?" Bond asked huskily before kissing Carter on the lips and then pulling away so that she could actually have a chance to answer his question. "Q wants to modify my car with all his "State of the art, limited edition" gadgets and wanted my consent. He also asked if you could drop it off back at HQ ASAP since I can't drive for a while. Is that alright with you? I take it you have your own car waiting back at HQ so if you want you can come back here afterwards." Carter offered as she twiddled a piece of Bond's fluffy short blonde hair between her fingers. Bond smiled again as he looked down at Carter who surprisingly didn't have a hangover despite how much she drank the previous night. Or, if she did she was bloody good at hiding it. "Yeah I'll take it in for you, but don't expect to see it back any time soon. Q likes to be; thorough with his gadgets would be one way of putting it. And will no doubt give your car a serious test running before you'll be allowed to drive it again. Just to make sure nothing is faulty among other things. And yes I have my own car, though it's nowhere near as expensive. But yes I'd like to come back here if you don't mind; you still need to give me a full tour of this massive house of yours."

Carter just chuckled. "Well you've seen the kitchen, lounge and my room by the looks of it, I hope I didn't roll around too much and squash you. But sure I'll give you a tour of the house. And give me a second I'll get you some clean clothes." And without another word she sat up and limped out of her room for a few minutes leaving Bond to wonder where she had gone or where she would get some fresh clothes for him. But staying true to her word she came back with a pair of dark navy/ black stone washed jeans, a crisp white long sleeved shirt and a brown leather jacket that was almost identical to his own, all seemingly high quality brands. "These clothes were for my eldest cousin Mathew whenever he decided to stay over, but as he's not with us anymore it would be a waste to not use them. And he was the same kind of height with a similar frame that you have, so they should fit you alright. As for the jacket, you can keep that if you like, as your current jacket has a hole in the sleeve. Unless you want to keep that one and I can have it repaired for you?" "Are… you sure? And that jacket isn't really worth repairing; I actually prefer this one a lot more, so thank you, Lydia." Bond said as he took the pressed clothes off of Carter who just smiled as she stood by the doorway, trying her best not to put any pressure on her leg. Then her expression changed as she just remembered something. "Oh! I almost forgot, give me another second." And with that she hobbled off again. Bond timed thirty seconds before he heard her bare and plastered foot pad across the landing again towards where he was, but this time she didn't enter the room but threw something at him. When he caught it he noticed it was a pair of boxers and trainer socks. "I'll be downstairs making some breakfast, or lunch whichever you want to call it if you need me You like coffee and full English breakfast right?. You can use the shower too if you like; the bathroom is just through the double doors at the far end of my room."

She called and hovered just outside her door as she waited for an answer. "Yeah I like coffee and full English, thank you Lydia, and yes I'd like to use your shower if you don't mind, I won't be long." "Not at all, take as much time as you need. Oh and one more thing, do you know where my crutches are? I can get around just about without them but it hurts to put pressure on my leg still." Carter explained at she began to rub her leg, even though it wouldn't do anything. "Hold on I'll get them for you." Bond called and made his way out the door and passed Carter who was leaning against the wall with her plastered foot balanced on top of her normal foot. A few seconds later he came back with her crutches and handed them to her. "Do you need any help with getting down the stairs?" he asked as Carter put the crutches on her arms. "I think I'll be okay thank you. Being in the RAF you were prone to some serious injuries so I'm used to this kind of thing really. Thank you anyway though." Carter explained before turning and heading in the direction of the stairs. "Just come down to the kitchen when you're ready, towels are in the glass cabinet in the far right corner, you can't miss them." And with that she slowly descended the stairs, taking one step at a time before finally getting to ground level to just about hear the sound to pouring water coming from her shower. With the broken leg she's got she'll be having baths so that the plaster wouldn't get damaged, a real bother but there was nothing she could do about it. As she made her way into the Kitchen she pulled out two large white plates as well as two pairs of stainless steel knives and forks and set them of the counter for later use. She then pulled out a large frying pan that took a quarter of the hob up and would be more than enough to cook everything altogether.

Meanwhile Bond had just entered the on suite bathroom that belonged to Carter's bedroom and like everything else in this house it was impressive and huge. The bathroom was big enough to be classed as a large bedroom and consisted of slate tiled flooring with under floor heating, a walk in shower very similar to the one back on the island and in the middle near the back was a bath that wasn't quite wide enough to be a Jacuzzi but was bigger than a standard bath. He then turned on the shower immediately filling the room with misty steam before stripping and stepping under the streaming water. He stood still under the water for a good five minutes until he heard a light knock on the door. "James…? Two questions, how do you have your coffee and is there anything in a full English breakfast that you don't like?" Bond smiled at how thoughtful Carter could be before sticking his head around the glass pane "I like my coffee milky with one sugar, and the only thing I don't particularly like is mushrooms, everything else is fine thank you." Bond said before putting his head back under the water again. He could just about hear Carter on the other side of the door reciting through what he had told her. "Okay, sounds easy enough, I'll give you some privacy now, sorry." And with that she left, Bond hearing her plastered foot thump quietly across the floor before the door clicked meaning that she had gone back down. Ten more minutes later Bond stepped out of the shower refreshed and got dressed in the clothes that had been given to him, a little tight around his arms from his muscles but it wasn't uncomfortable. As soon as he opened the bathroom door he found a black hand towel folded up on the corner of the bed with a note in Carter's handwriting telling him he can use it to dry off his hair if he so wished to. Bond smiled at how old fashioned her writing looked before picking up the piece of paper and putting it in his pocket before picking up the towel and drying his damp hair off. As soon as he opened the bedroom door his senses were overwhelmed by the amazing smell that was wafting from the kitchen below. If the food tasted as good as it smelled, Carter really knew how to cook a decent meal.

As he walked down the stairs and into the kitchen he was greeted with the sight of Carter now fully dressed in a pair of light blue boyfriend jeans, a plain white long sleeved jersey top along with a beige button up cardigan that had brown leather elbow patches. On her right foot Bond could just about see a black and grey stripy sock whereas on her left foot and big fluffy black bed sock that could easily stretch over the cast to keep her exposed toes warm. Her hair was now tied up in a messy bun to keep it out of the food she was making. She also wore a plain shocking red apron that hugged against her curves to keep any food from soiling her clothing. She was currently stirring various bits of food around a large frying pan with a spatula with one hand, whilst propping herself upright with her crutch in the other and hadn't even noticed Bond enter the room, or so he had thought. "Was the shower warm enough? It sometimes goes cold for a short period of time which I must get fixed, sorry if you got a nasty surprise I forgot to mention it." Carter apologised, not even turning away from what she was doing. Bond smirked at how she had detected his presence straight away before slipping over to where she was standing and placed his hands loosely on her shoulders before whispering in her ear. "The shower was very refreshing thank you, but it would have been better if you were in there with me…" He chuckled as he lightly nipped against her earlobe, almost causing her to flip the entire contents of the frying pan into the air. Carter also smirked as she turned her head slightly to meet Bond's gaze. "Unless you want to wear your breakfast, be a good agent and take a seat at the dining table, your coffee is the one closest to you." Carter pointed towards the steaming white mug of milky coffee that now sat on the wooden oak dining table. Bond almost grinned, almost, before doing as he was told by taking a seat where his coffee was sat. Seconds later Carter plated up their food as neatly as she could possibly manage with one hand before limping over to Bond was and setting his plate down in front of him, along with a knife and fork which he gladly took off of her.

Soon enough the hob had been switched off and Carter was sat opposite Bond with her own mug of coffee, waiting for him to take the first bite. As soon as Bond did take the first bite he was just glad there was a lot on his plate as the food was out of this world, and this was only breakfast! "Mm, did you ever consider becoming a chef before you joined the RAF or MI6?" Bond asked making Carter laugh. "I'm flattered, but no I didn't. I may be able to whip up a decent full English if I do say so myself but there's no way I'd have the patience to take on a full career that revolves just around food. Do you like it then? If you find any food that doesn't taste right, don't feel that you have to eat it, I won't be offended in the slightest." Carter offered whilst sticking a small piece of beacon in her mouth. Although she was eating her food quite slowly, in truth she was famished as she hadn't eaten since she'd woken up and gotten back. "To say I liked it would be an understatement, Lydia." Bond smiled as he took another bite, Carter doing the same. Eventually they finished their meals and both agents were standing at the front door. "Here are my car keys, and this is the code to open the front gates when you get back, and here's a spare front door key so that you can let yourself in. Okay?" Carter smiled as she handed the listed objects over to Bond, before she stretched up onto her tiptoes, well as much as she could, and kissed him on the lips, only to be ambushed by Bond's who turned it into something a lot deeper. They ended up standing there for a good five minutes before Carter pulled away for air. "I don't think it's a good idea to keep Q waiting any longer, especially as I've promised him a very expensive car that he can play with…" Carter said as she gave her car a worrying side glance before looking at Bond again. "I'll see you in a bit then." She said before quickly kissing him on the cheek. "Yeah, I'll get back as soon as I can, don't miss me too much." Bond said with a chuckle before unlocking the car and getting in. Carter just smiled as she leant against the door frame till Bond started up the engine and drove off down the long driveway. As soon as he was out of sight Carter leaner behind her and pressed a button that would open the front gates to let him out, he could have done it himself but Carter figured that he wouldn't want to get out of the car to do so. She then heard the engine of the car rev up again in the distance, gradually getting quieter meaning Bond was no doubt already out of the estate.

The house felt strangely eerie and deadly silent now that Bond had left, but she decided not to dwell on it and attempt to get some housework done. After all she hadn't been home for nearly over a month so dust was bound to collect in unwanted places. Carter reckoned she had just over an hour before Bond started to make his way back, plenty of time to clean the floors, the kitchen and the lounge; those were the areas that needed the most attention out of the whole house, everywhere else either hadn't been used or was already tidy to begin with. She sighed and limped back towards the kitchen where the floor steamer was kept. It took hardly any time at all to bring the floors back to their former glory, they were so clean carter could almost see her face in the tiles in the hallway. The kitchen itself took a bit longer as there was a lot of food to be put away, pans, plates, mugs and cutlery to be washed, surfaces to be wiped as well as the table. But after about twenty minutes of limping around she eventually had everything cleaned and back in its rightful home. She sat down at the table for a short break whilst sipping at her second coffee in just over half an hour, Carter literally lived off the stuff as it kept her on the go. Once she was satisfied there wasn't anything else left to do in the kitchen she moved onto the lounge which she hadn't been in since late the previous night. What she found was a sight indeed. It wasn't messy but what really got her head churning was the amount of martini glasses that were stood next to each other on the coffee table that she vaguely remembered sitting by. She then looked at where Bond had sat and noticed that he hadn't drunk as much as she had. "Well this is unexpected… I could have sworn I only had one or two, not eight…" Carter thought out loud again before making her way over to place all the empty glasses on a tray she had brought with her. She then put them on the side for a moment as she picked up the bottles of alcohol that were dotted around near to where they were sitting and placed them back of the glass shelves where all the other liquor was kept.

After doing this she took the tray of martini glasses back into the kitchen and put them all in the dishwasher before setting it to deep rinse. Once this was completed she finally took her apron off and hung it on the hook just to the side of the door that lead back out to the hallway. She then pulled her hair out of the bun, letting it fall loosely down her back. She then made her way back into the lounge and sat on the largest sofa, finally able to relax. After a while of just sitting there she decided that she was in the mood for another one of those martinis Bond had introduced to her, and so, she got up again and poured herself one glass. And it would stay at one too, as it was still the middle of the day near enough. Meanwhile, Bond had just arrived back at MI6 headquarters and was even greeted by Q and his lab crew in the car park as they began to circle around the car, already taking in just how classy it looked before Bond even had a chance to get out. When he did finally get out Q walked over to him, "Ah Bond, thank you for dropping Carter's car off for us, but would you be able to drive it into the underground garage please? That's where we will be modifying it." Bond sighed before sitting down in the driver's seat again. "Sure I'll drive it down there, give me a minute." Is all he said before he shut the door again and sped towards the underground garage that Q had recently adopted as his own. Once there he waited inside till he saw Q and co walking towards him through the rear view mirror. He then started up the engine again causing the rev to echo throughout the large room before driving onto the car lift. As he got out he tossed Q the car keys. "Carter wanted me to ask you how long it would take before she could have her car back, any ideas?" Bond asked as he turned to leave to find his own car. Q thought for a while before giving Bond a simple shrug. "Depends on how well her car adapts to the changes, but I'd say two weeks tops. Let her know that it is in safe hands now." Q pulled a crooked smile before turning his attention towards the shimmering grey Porsche that now stood before him. "Like she will be comforted with that…" Bond said under his breath before walking towards the exit. "Just don't blow it up whatever you do Q, something tells me she's quite attached to it." and with that he left before Q had a chance to complain. Now unlike Carter's car, Bond's had already been got at by Q and was surprisingly more sufficient than it used to be. As he entered the sheltered part of the parking lot he smiled as he saw his car exactly as he's left it. His car may have been a lot cheaper than Carter's, but owning an Aston Martin DBS wasn't exactly common. With its glossy black paintwork it certainly ranked as high as Carter's car in terms of looks and style. In a nutshell both agents owned extremely expensive cars that would make anyone envious. Bond's car didn't own an ignition key anymore and was completely accessible by his fingerprints alone, both for unlocking the doors and starting the engine, as well as accessing all the hidden "gadgets" that were tucked away out of sight throughout the interior. As he simply swiped his thumb over the handle of the car he got in and did the same again where the ignition key would have been before starting up the engine, which made a similar revving sound to Carter's, just with slightly less power. Soon enough he was driving back the way he had come and twenty minutes later he pulled into the estate where Carter's house was located. As he pulled up towards the front gates and put in the code Carter had given him, Carter was alerted back at the house that the front gates were being opened, meaning Bond had returned. She got up from the sofa and made her way to the front door. As soon as she opened it her jaw almost hit the floor. There he was, just casually getting out of a friggin Aston Martin as if it were an everyday common car. Bond swiftly walked up to her and caught her in a mind blowing kiss before she could say anymore. "Q said that your car will be ready in roughly two weeks tops, so you should be out of your cast by then, sound good?" Carter smiled and nodded as they made their way back inside. As they sat down in the now tidy lounge Carter sat forward again in her chair, her thinking face clearly gracing her features. "What's on your mind?" Bond asked as he noticed her expression, which almost looked troubled. In truth she knew what she wanted to ask him, but wasn't quite sure how he would react.

"…I was just thinking, I know we haven't known each other for very long, but…" She paused and looked up to analyse his expression "…Would you like to, move in, here, with me…?" She asked slowly, trying to figure out what was buzzing through his mind. For a moment Bond was speechless, he had expected that he would be welcomed here quite often but not for her to offer for him to actually move in, into a house such as this… "… A-are you sure…? I don't want to be a bother…" Carter frowned slightly but then softened her expression. "You're not a bother in the slightest, and yeah I'm sure. This house is way too big for just one person, and it gets lonely around here. So if you'd like to move in, then you are more than welcome to." Carter smiled contently. Bond thought about what she said for a moment before smiling in return. "If that's what you want then I can't say no, it would be a pleasure to move in with you." Carter's face lit up like a Christmas tree as he accepted her offer with open arms, genuinely feeling happy for once.

2 WEEKS LATER:

"…Well it certainly looks the same…" Carter said whilst slowly walking around her car. "Wait, no it's not. Have you changed the wheels Q?" she asked as she gave one of the tyres an experimental kick, immediately regretting afterwards as she literally felt her toes throbbing. "…Yeah they are different. It's one of the many modifications that have been done for your car; these wheels will produce metal spikes out of them so you can grip onto icy surfaces or drive up almost vertical surfaces etc. The tyres are also solid rubber so you don't have to worry about other people attempting to burst them, but to compensate for these I've had to increase the suspension by almost half, as they hardly absorb any shock from the road at all now. The door handles and the engine ignition are all only accessible to your fingerprints, the glove box has been fitted with our latest advanced medical kit for if and when you get injured during missions. As I said to you over the phone you are now able to flip your front and rear registration plates to reveal machine guns, as well as oil, smoke and sting tacks. You are now able to control your car remotely via your phone and I have successfully completed the piece of technology that will turn your car completely invisible, if you'd kindly show everyone by stepping into your vehicle." Q motioned for Carter to get inside, which she did without hesitation after swiping her thumb across the door handle, which immediately unlocked it, and then sitting in the driver's seat before shutting the door once she was inside. "Now 006 you'll notice that there is a small sensor just above horn button in the middle of the steering wheel that gives off a blue light, found it?" Carter nodded and pointed towards the said sensor before looking back at Q through the slightly tinted window. "Good, now move your hand in front of the blue light." Seconds later Carter caught Bond taking a slight step backwards meaning that her car was no longer visible, and to confirm her thoughts her car told her in a very familiar satnav tone, _"Invisibility shield now activated" _"That's going to get annoying, and quite quickly…" Carter deadpanned, she already got enough grief from her advanced satnav telling her that she had breached the national speed limit every time she went onto the motorway, 60mph is basically walking speed for her, of course she wasn't going to go that slow!

She the noticed that there were more blue sensors located around the interior of her car, indicating where the hidden gadgets were. "Well that was easy…" Carter deadpanned as she switched off the invisibility shield by hovering her hand over the same sensor again. She then rolled down the window and stuck her head out slightly to speak to Q, "So where can I give this a test drive?" This question earned a slight grin from Q whilst pulling a piece a paper out of his trouser pocket. "Here, put this location into your satnav and we'll meet you there shortly, I'm hoping that as you have a car such as this you know how to handle it to the best of its abilities, correct?" Oblivious to Q, a vein popped up on Carter's forehead as she registered what he just said. She clenched her teeth slightly before a wave of annoyance and frustration washed over her. "You think I'd spend over £440,000 on a car like this and not know how to drive it?! Of course I can drive it god damn it!" Carter barked and took the piece of paper with the location to wherever she could test drive her car before putting the window back up, switching the engine on which echoed loudly throughout the underground lab, putting her car into reverse whilst suddenly spinning it around so that it was facing the right way and then slamming her foot down on the gas pedal which left black tyre marks on the ground as she sped up and out of the exit.


End file.
